DIVINE CREATION AND INITIATION

                           BY BENJAMIN ROWE

                    Copyright 1992 by Benjamin Rowe


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                       ³ Receive Divine ³
 ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ=³     Force      ÃÄÄÄÄ-ÄÄÄÄÄ¿
 ³                     ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ          ³
 ³                                                 ³
 ³                                                 |
 ³   ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿                           ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
 ³   ³ Expression³=ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´ Conformation³
 ³   ³ in Action ³                           ³    Cycle    ³
 ³   ÀÄÄÄÄÄÂÄÄÄÄÄÙ                           ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
 ³         ³
 ³         ³
 ³         ³           ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
 ³         ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ=³   Complete    ³
 ³                     ³ Manifestation ³
 ³                     ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÂÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
 ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ-ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ


     Figure 1. Cycle of Divine Creation and of Initiation


The Process of Divine Creation

In the largest context, an individual's initiation does not occur in
isolation. Rather, it is a single thread in the continuing act of
divine creation. The full intent of the creator is only worked out
through a multiplicity of such threads, linked through energetic
resonance into a quasi-biological whole. I use the word "biological"
deliberately; the logic of spiritual interrelations is indeed "bio-
logic", the logic of living things, but tremendously expanded and
generalized. 

The relation between the creator and the initiates who respond to the
act of creation has strong correspondences to the relation between our
conscious selves and the cells in our bodies, though the former
relation is not so limited as the latter. We can gain an understanding
of the larger process by reference to its microcosmic analogue.

Each cell in our bodies contains in essence the information needed to
create the whole. But the cell is not the whole, nor is any given cell
versatile enough to switch places with any other cell in the body. A
liver cell remains a liver cell, even if implanted in the heart. A
brain cell remains a brain cell, even if moved to the genitals. Each
cell is a particularization of a range of potentials out of the vastly
greater range inherent in the genetic material it contains.

Just so, each individual contains within himself the essence of the
entire universe of which he or she is a part. "Man is a microcosm",
the saying goes. But clearly the individual is not the universe; he is
contained within it, both objectively and subjectively. Equally
clearly, no two individuals are interchangeable, no matter how much
the philosophically shortsighted would wish to make it so. Each is a
particularization in time and space of the effectively infinite
potential of the universe at large.

When a conscious entity decides to take a particular action, the
process by which the intent is effectuated proceeds in four overall
stages:

1. Appearance of the intent in consciousness.

2. Transmission of the intent along neuronic paths to the various
parts of the body.

3. Modification of the behavior of individual cells in response to the
transmitted signals.

4. The effectuation of the intent in the form of some sort of action.

Between stages one and two there is a gap; in some way not understood
by either philosophers or scientists, the singular intent of the being
becomes transformed into the multitude of signals necessary to direct
the action of the body. No one knows exactly how this transformation
is performed, only that it does occur. While many different explana-
tions have been put forth, the evidence to date is insufficient to
resolve the issue. 

The process by which divine intent is made manifest follows four
similar stages:

1. The appearance of the divine ideal which is to be made manifest.

2. The response of a group of adepts to that ideal, and the creation
of a group of iconic or symbolic thought-forms to act as link between
the ideal and the lower worlds.

3. Apprentices sensing the transmitted intent and unconsciously or
consciously modifying their individual patterns of thought to conform
to it. They act on these thoughts within the mundane world, producing

4. The final manifestation of the ideal in time and space. 

The divine ideal, while wholly unitary, has three aspects when per-
ceived by a conscious entity: Its Note, or initial impulse, its Intent
or Will expression, and the active Vibrations by which it can be
successfully manifested. Mages of different degrees are identified
with one or more of these aspects, and through their identification
are able to create a condition under which the ideal can be sense by
adepts. 

As in the previous case there is an apparent gap between the first and
second steps in this sequence, which is called the "Abyss" in magickal
parlance. It is difficult to describe how this gap is perceived by a
mage without resorting to mystic jargon that may ultimately be mean-
ingless to anyone except another mage. One can speak glibly of "being"
and "becoming", and leave the reader no better informed than before.

Another way of looking at the matter is to say that at each stage of
this fourfold process of creation, an additional quality is added to
the archetypality of the divine ideal, elaborating on its nature and
creating manifestations having both greater specificity and greater
multiplicity than the original.

As perceived on its own level by a mage, the divine ideal is complete,
unitary, and self-sufficient. It simply is, with no apparent beginning
or end. It neither acts nor is acted upon. It appears so nearly
universal and encompassing that even the possibility that something
exists which is not "what it is" practically disappears.

When the conditions created by the mages cause the divine ideal to be
brought down into the second stage - "below the Abyss" - the quality
of relatedness is added to its archetypality. The ideal no longer
appears to exist simply in itself, but now is perceived in relation to
something which is not itself. This simple addition of the potential
for relationship brings about a shocking transformation; shocking
because it is not just a change from one-thing-in-itself to one-thing-
in-relation-to-one-other-thing. Rather the change is from absolute
unity directly to infinite multiplicity. In the act of crossing the
Abyss, the mage or adept goes from one extreme of existence to the
other with no intermediate stages. It is as if one took a single step
and found oneself at the other end of the universe.

The existence of two things demands the existence of a third thing;
the existence of a third demands a fourth, and so on. Once one steps
away from singularity there is no stopping until there is a cosmos
full of things, an effectively infinite field in which everything is
potentially or actually in relationship to every other thing. And
more, everything can be related to every other thing in a multitude of
ways, so that we have infinity piled upon infinity.

In contrast to this first transition, the passage to third and fourth
stages merely adds qualities of greater specificity to the infinitude
of the second stage. A limited set of potential events gets selected
out of the infinity of possible relationships and proceeds towards
full manifestation. There is no radical transformation as there is
between the first and second stages.

Stage two corresponds to the state in the individual where an idea in
consciousness becomes transformed into the many nervous signals
necessary to direct the body's response to the intention. This stage
belongs to the adepts, whose primary concern is with the establishment
of relationships between things, the creation of magickal links. As
individual neurons are to the idea in consciousness, so adepts are to
the divine ideal. Each adept picks up particular aspects of its
potential expression, those which relate to his own nature and posi-
tion. Each adept creates links between the ideal and those things
within his own sphere of influence which reflect its nature. Addi-
tionally each acts as a transmitter, passing the sensed potentials on
to other adepts with resonant natures who are focused at lower levels.

If sufficient magickal links are created, the divine ideal eventually
becomes established in Tiphereth as a self-sustaining thought-form.
This thought-form acts as a secondary center of focus for the divine
ideal, concentrating and amplifying the forces transmitted along the
magickal links, and sending out new signals into the lower worlds.
This thought-form is also an "ideal", an expression of the original
ideal within time and space and the context of human perceptions.
Unlike the original it can be sensed by apprentice-level beings, and
translated by them into a series of concrete goals within the manifest
world. 

The works of some adepts partially bypass this thought-form and act
directly on the lower worlds. One type of adept concentrates on the
"multiplicity" aspect of stage two and brings this aspect down into
the lower worlds to be expressed as intellectual formulations or
ideas. Another type of adept concentrates on the "relationship"
aspect, manifesting it in the form of artistic creations. By providing
these links directly into the worlds inhabited by apprentices, they
provide apprentices with patterns by which they can learn to sense to
the ideal expression in Tiphereth.

Passing to stage three adds the quality of active response or intel-
ligent activity to the creation. This stage corresponds to that stage
in the individual where the neuronic signals reach their goals in
various parts of the body. These signals, acting on non-neuronic
cells, cause those cells to change their state of activity in ways
that conform to the conditions set by the signal. The cells take
energy and matter from their environment, transform it in accordance
with the signals, and release it back into the environment. The
release may come in the form of movement, as in the case of muscle
cells, in the form of chemical secretions that produce global or
localized changes in the rest of body, in the form of changes in
electrical or magnetic conductivity, or several other ways.

Note that the signals coming to the cell do not force the cell to
perform in a specific way, nor do they direct the cell's activity in
detail. Remember that each cell is a particularization of the overall
potential of the body. Its innate nature defines and expresses a
specific set of those general potentials. The signal it receives need
not contain any information at all as to how the cell must respond.
The cell knows by its nature how it must respond, and does so auto-
matically, translating a generalized command into a specific set of
activities.

In the process of divine creation, this third stage belongs primarily
to the apprentices. The quality of intelligent activity has much
greater scope in their work than in the cell. 

Cells exist in a more or less fixed relationship to the rest of the
body, and each is particularized to express only a few types of
activity. Their response to incoming signals is also fixed to a
limited range. 

Human beings, while still particularized with respect to the universe
as a whole, otherwise possess a remarkable freedom of action. They
exist in a constantly changing relationship to other humans and to the
rest of their environment. Unlike cells any human being can perform a
vast range of activities, depending on the contexts in which they are
acting. Most importantly humans, within the extremely broad limits of
their particularizations, are capable of defining and re-defining
their own activity within the "body" that is our world. And paradoxi-
cal as it may seem, apprentices have a greater freedom in this regard
than do either adepts or mages.

Apprentices are in a way repeating the actions of the adepts, but on a
lower level. The adept takes the singular will which is the divine
ideal and translates it into a multitude of potential relationships,
which in turn eventually coalesce again into the expressed ideal in
Tiphereth. When an apprentice senses an expressed ideal, its influence
is translated in his or her mind into a set of goals or possibilities
for self-expression. Those that are congenial to the person's nature
are incorporated into the person's self-image, thoughts, and emotions.
Then, in the course of the apprentice's life in the world, situations
arise in which action can contribute to the achievement of these self-
chosen goals. Through the intelligence inherent in his being, the
person chooses those activities that will help to make the goal
manifest.

Note that the choice of actions comes entirely from within the appren-
tice's being. The expressed ideal in Tiphereth contains no specifica-
tions concerning the way that the ideal is to be manifested, but only
of the intended result. The manner in which the apprentice acts
towards that goal is always a matter of free choice. Adepts and mages
participating in the act of divine creation never attempt to force or
coerce the apprentice into a particular course of action. At most,
they will arrange to provide the apprentice with opportunities for
action in line with the goal. But even in these cases, the choice of
whether to take the opportunity, and what to make of it, is wholly
within the hands of the apprentice.

This acknowledgement of free choice is not only a matter of ethical
action on the part of adepts and mages; it is a matter of utter
necessity if the divine ideal is to come into full manifestation. 

It is the task of apprentices to create the final links between the
divine ideal and the material world. Because they are still close to
the material pole, they are best qualified to make the final adjust-
ments that will fit one to the other and complete the creation. Their
natures are exactly suited to this work, and no higher initiate can do
it better. 

By becoming more directly identified with the divine ideal in its
primary form, mages and adepts have sacrificed some of their freedom
of action within the lower worlds. Close identification with the
divine will excludes many courses of action that are in accord with
that will, but which require close identification with the material
pole of existence. They can not maintain an identification with both
the divine and material poles at the same time. Since they had previ-
ously passed through the apprentice stage, adepts and mages are still
capable of acting directly on the material world, but only by tem-
porarily reducing their degree of identification with the ideal. The
more attention they have to pay to purely material affairs, the less
of the higher identification they can maintain. 

Another consideration is that when the divine will touches directly on
the lower worlds, without the buffering provided by intermediate
links, its action is inevitably destructive. Matter and the substance
of the lower mind is at present incapable of absorbing the divine will
directly, and contact with it would result in a subjective equivalent
of vaporization, destroying all form beyond possibility of reconstruc-
tion.

Finally, adepts and mages must consider that all acts of divine
creation must take place in ways that encourage the continuation of
the process of initiation. This seems to be a precondition for any
sort of divine creation within the human Tree of Life. What little we
know of the Cosmic Tree suggests that it is universally applicable in
that realm as well. The rule as gods view it is that matter must be
continually transformed into spirit, until all of it has been trans-
formed. The means by which this is done is the process of creation and
resulting initiation.

Through the combined effects of the individual activity of many
apprentices, the divine ideal is eventually brought safely down into
full manifestation. A final quality is added to the series, which can
be called objectification or externalization. The actions of appren-
tices over time create an activity in the material world which takes
on a life of its own, and is seen as having an existence independent
of those who worked to create it.

In many cases, this "objectified" ideal does not actually exist in
matter. Rather, it exists as a form on the astral plane, having
sufficient organization to maintain itself and gather energy to itself
without further conscious effort on anyone's part. Since most of
humanity is currently focused on the astral plane or on the adjacent
areas of the lower mental planes, they perceive it as real and act
accordingly in their daily lives, even though the thing they perceive
can easily be shown to have no existence when it is viewed with a
strict definition of objectivity. Among the most obvious of such
objectified ideals are the various organizations that make up the
social structures of current-day cultures. "Government" is such an
ideal, as are religions, corporations, money, and many other things to
which we routinely grant the status of "real". But in many other
cases, the end result of the process is truly "objective", that is,
having existence in matter. 

From the divine viewpoint, all the sephiroth below Tiphereth are
equally "material"; the stuff of the astral and mental planes is
simply matter in a different state than that of Malkuth. So the
establishment of a divine ideal in the matter of any of these planes
is considered a successful creation.

There are several more factors that should be considered by the reader
who is attempting to gain a clear mental picture of the process of
divine creation. The most important of these points is that this
process is not all "one-way", does operate solely from the top down-
wards. Between and within each stage there occurs feedback, a constant
dance of adjustment and readjustment. 

In the body, the reactions that take place in the course of exter-
nalizing a thought influence in turn the next thoughts to arise in the
person's mind. Cells send information back along the neural pathways,
telling of their current status and what they will be capable of doing
in the next few moments. In the course of accomplishing a simple
action, such as reaching out to grasp an object, what has been ac-
complished at any given moment is fed back to be compared against the
initiating thought, and new signals are sent adjusting the ongoing
process to maintain its direction towards the intended goal. And there
is a constant flow of information around the body in the form of
chemical secretions and electromagnetic states that inform the cells
of the state of other cells operating on their own level.

Similarly in divine creation, there is a constant flow of information
upwards along the created channels as well as downwards or outwards
into the manifest world. Adjustments are made "on the fly" to account
for the relative success of the various groups involved, and to
account for changes in the world to which the effort of creation is
being applied. Over time, the physical manifestation becomes an
increasingly more accurate correspondence to the intent.

It will be important to keep in mind that divine creation is a dynam-
ic, continuing process rather than a fixed or "one-shot" activity that
happens once and not again. It is the dynamism of the process that
makes initiation and evolution possible at all, which keeps the world
from being in truth the static, stratified, unchanging place that
ancient theologians thought it to be. Much of our later concern with
keeping the results of initiation are directly concerned with the
dynamic aspects of the process.

A related factor to consider is that divine ideals have a finite life-
span, when viewed from a standpoint in time and space. They come into
existence in the world, take some time to develop their inherent
possibilities, and then pass out of existence again. At any given
moment in time, several ideals are in various stages of their cycle.
Some are just beginning to come into the awareness of mages. Others
have been linked to the earth and are in process of becoming fully
manifested. And yet others have completed their lives and are gradu-
ally breaking up and going out of manifestation. Depending on their
individual natures and sensitivity, various parts of the population
will be attracted to one or another of these ideals. 

It is also important to remember that the manifestation of any divine
ideal consists of many different threads, composed of many different
types of energy expressing different aspects of the ideal. There are
always at least seven different aspects involved in any manifestation,
and each of these may be wholly or partially incompatible with the
others when viewed from the viewpoint of an incarnate human. No
individual can judge from his own experience of the expressed ideal
whether another person is or is not also sensing that ideal. Activi-
ties that appear antithetical from an individual's view may in fact be
different aspects of the same divine expression. Full appreciation of
the manifestation can only be had by a mage or very high-level adept. 

Students of Thelemic doctrine might profit by considering the three
"Grades" mentioned in Liber AL in light of what has been said above
about the stages of divine creation.


                       ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
                       ³  Inflow of   ³
                       ³ Divine Force ³
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                               |
                       ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
  ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ=³ Destruction of ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
  ³                    ³ Limiting Forms ³         ³
  ³                    ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ         ³
  ³                                               |
  ³ ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿                  ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
  ³ ³ Synthesis of New ³                  ³ Expansion of  ³
  ³ ³ Forms Compatible ³=ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´ Consciousness ³
  ³ ³   With Divine    ³                  ³  to Absorb    ³
  ³ ³     Force        ³                  ³ Divine Force  ³
  ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÂÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ                  ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
  ³          ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
  ³                            |
  ³                    ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
  ³                    ³  Testing of    ³
  ³                    ³  New Forms     ³
  ³                    ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÂÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
  ³                            |
  ³                   ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
  ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ-ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ´   Are New Forms   ³
           No         ³ Fully Compatible? ³
                      ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÂÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
                               ³ Yes
                               |
                         ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
                         ³ Expression³
                         ³ In Action ³
                         ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ

                 Figure 2. The Conformation Cycle


The Conformation Cycle in Initiation

In initiation, the initiate receives a flow of force from some level
more inclusive than that on which his conscious mind is currently
focused. If he/she is to retain any benefit from the experience, those
parts of the being that are below his level of focus must be con-
sciously brought into alignment with that force, within the context of
their natural modes of functioning. All of these parts must be brought
in to the alignment. Not one can be left out.

This means that we can not be satisfied with simply receiving and
"feeling" the force. We have to direct our emotions so that those
incompatible with the force fall away, and new ones that are fully
compatible come to the fore. We have to direct our intellects so that
ideas shown by that force to be false are eliminated, and the remaind-
er reconstructed to fit the our new perceptions. We have to modify our
self-image and goals to include the new vistas opened to us. We have
to re-examine all of our being in terms of the new force, and change
our being so that the force can flow freely between levels. 

The goal of initiation is to make all of the vehicles perfectly
"transparent" or perfectly responsive to the highest and most in-
clusive divine force the initiate can experience at a given time, and
to elevate the focus of consciousness so that it operates from the
highest level possible. The conformation cycle is the process by which
this goal is attained.

Figure 2 represents the cycle of activity by which an initiate absorbs
divine force coming into his or her sphere. This figure falls within
the box labeled "Conformation Cycle" in Figure 1. 

This cycle is applicable to the initiate's actions both with respect
to his own initiations and with respect to his participation in the
Great Work. The only difference between the two cases lies in what
kinds of forms are being destroyed and created in the process. In
initiation, the forms are actually forms that make up part of his
individual being. In the Great Work, the forms are those that he
creates to act as magickal links to bring the divine ideal into
manifestation.

The conformation cycle contains another cycle within it, which is not
shown because it is constantly in action throughout the process. This
inner cycle is the cycle of invocation and response. At each step of
this process, the initiate is in constant need of a contact with the
incoming divine force. At the very beginning of the process, it is his
desire and intent, directed upwards through the planes, that generates
the initial inflow of force. As the power gathered from that first
inflow is expended, he is constantly re-invoking the force, replenish-
ing the power so that the process can continue.

Invocation and response may take the form of formal ceremonies and
magickal efforts, or it can simply be a continual "looking towards"
the divine with a desire to draw it into contact again. In any case,
the directed intent and desire of the magician attracts both the force
and the attention of interested beings on higher levels, who provide
him with assistance in bringing down the force, and also assist with
suggestions as to appropriate forms that might be created to hold and
channel the force. Without this constant renewal of contact, any
effort to reconfigure form to match the force will fail.

Throughout the following sections the word "form" will be used as a
generic term for that on which the force of the divine ideal acts. It
is perhaps not the best term available, but after reviewing many more
technically specific terms from philosophy, phenomenology, and meta-
physics, I find the use of such terms would not add any significant
understanding to the subject being dealt with here.

The viewpoint from which the process of conformation is described is
one in which the consciousness of the initiate exists in an inter-
mediate area between a positive and a negative pole. The positive pole
in this discussion is generally the divine ideal in one of its three
aspects. The "negative" or more material pole is in most cases not the
sephira Malkuth, as is conventionally the case, but rather Tiphereth.

The conformation process is one that takes place on the same planes in
which the adept normally works, and it is usually only the adept in
whom the process takes place consciously. Conformation to the divine
ideal always takes place before any appearance on the more material
planes, even such an abstract appearance as a thought that can be
described in words. 

So the material aspect of the process, the "forms" on which the divine
ideal works, are the formulations of relationships, the magickal links
with which the adept does his work. When speaking of "forms", of the
"breaking up of forms" or the "creation of forms" we are speaking of
either (in the case of initiation) the formulated relationships that
maintain the internal connectivity and unity of the individualized
adept, or (in the case of divine creation) of those magickal links the
adepts create between the divine ideal and the lower worlds.


Phase 1: Destruction of Old Forms

The first effect of an inflow of divine force is always destructive.
The "vibrations" of the force have a tendency to break up any form
that is incompatible. This effect is represented cabalistically by the
planet Mars and the tarot card The Tower.

Mythologically, Mars has always been associated with a rise to the
heights, followed by a sudden disaster and a subsequent rapid fall.
The disaster is usually caused by the entry onto the scene of a new
and unanticipated factor, often through divine intervention. The Tower
of Babel story is a classic example. To understand how this relates to
the conformation cycle we have to back up a little bit. 

As was shown in Figure 1, the entire process of initiation is itself
cyclic. As the cycle progresses, it gradually draws away from the
divine ideal and towards full objectification. Eventually all the
divine force received gets expended, and the individual has to con-
tinue to build using energy drawn from within himself and from his
environment. After objectification has been completed, the process
must take a jump back to its first step to acquire a new flow of
divine force from a yet higher level. 

In the interim period, between objectification and the new inflow, the
individual builds up and elaborates on the fundamental forms and ideas
previously established. He works to extend those into areas of life
and experience not directly touched upon in the course of initiation,
both in the material world and on the magickal planes, re-interpreting
all of his being in terms of the new perspective. From the highest
level at which he can perceive, he works to build up an accurate
reflection of his perceptions throughout the lower parts of his being.
As more of his being is integrated into the scheme, the original forms
and ideas take on the psychic equivalent of mass; they become more
rigid, more difficult to move, adjust, or change. They become less
transparent to the divine force on which they were built.

This is a necessary step, and the natural consequence of the stage of
objectification. Once this structure is formed, the individual need
not expend more of his own energy to maintain his consciousness at the
high level achieved in the prior initiation. It becomes his natural
state of awareness, and only movement out of that state requires
expenditure of energy. Instead of having to hold himself high in the
air by the force of will, he is held up in the air by a strong tower,
which supports him against the downward pull of matter.

Somewhat paradoxically, it is during precisely this time, when his
internal expression of his initiation has become objectified and has
begun to take on a quality of rigidity, that the initiate can con-
tribute the most to the Great Work. The reason is that since he no
longer needs the force provided in his last initiation for his own
internal use, he can afford to expend any additional flows of that
same energy in outwardly-directed activity, building the impersonal
iconic and symbolic forms needed to channel that energy into the lower
worlds. 

Consciousness of the needs of the Great Work can make a great dif-
ference in the extent of the rigidification that occurs, and thus in
the amount of time between initiations and in the difficulty experien-
ced in the course of the next initiation. A certain amount of it is
necessary, but the motivation of the individual can vary the amount
that actually occurs remarkably.

In a person who is primarily concerned only with his own advancement
and power, the process of rigidification tends to continue to its
natural limits. That is, it goes on until all of the lower bodies have
been fully fixed in the new formation, and the formations have begun
to build up a "crust" around the person's awareness on its own level.
It can extend event further, into the person's relations with planes
higher than that on which the awareness is focused, by creating
assumptions and restrictions of thought concerning the next steps that
will be taken in his development.

With this wholly personal motivation, the person becomes encysted in
his own thought-structures, locked up in his own tower. The walls of
his tower block him off from direct contact with the planes from which
the force of his next initiation must come. As a consequence, the
force of invocation needed to produce a response from the higher
levels is greatly increased. He must also depend on the responding
powers to answer with a degree of force sufficient to blast apart the
thought-formations in which he is embedded. And if the force is
sufficient to do so, then the experience of the next initiation will
be literally shattering and disastrous to the present form of being, a
full expression of the events represented in the Tarot card.

At the other extreme, in the person who is wholly convinced that his
own initiations serve only the purpose of making him better suited to
participate in the Great Work, the rigidification tends to stay at the
minimum needed to support his awareness at its new level and to serve
as a foundation for the next initiation. Between the time when his
initiation becomes externalized and the time when the next initiation
begins, he concentrates not on building up the lower being into
conformation with his own centralized point of perception, but rather
on keeping the lower being in a state of fluid responsiveness to the
needs of the divine creation, regardless of whether those needs match
what the individual awareness thinks of as its own advantage. 

In this case, the lower levels of being will still be formed into
structures relating to what the person currently perceives of the
divine ideal. The difference is that these structures will be decen-
tralized and impersonal. It is as if the initiate, rather than build-
ing a tower for his sole use and protection, were building a grand
plaza in the air, an open structure that could be used by anyone who
chooses to do so, freely and without restrictions. He considers
himself neither the architect nor the owner of these structures, but
only a builder, one of many contributing to the overall effect as a
service to the world.

Creating a sense of service, of contribution to the Great Work,
requires the conscious development of several attitudes:

1. The attitude that the results of initiation are not the property of
the initiate, but are only held by him temporarily as a matter of
public trust.

2. The attitude that the benefits of the initiation must be extended
freely to all who have need of it and want it, but must not be forced
upon any against their own preference.

3. The attitude that each person who makes use of what he has freely
given must be allowed to make use of it according to that person's own
perception of the goals and ideals, and can not be restricted by the
one who gives.

4. The attitude that the work as a whole is the product of a vast
number of workers, and that the contribution of any one of them is not
so much greater than that of the others as to make him more important
or worthy of respect than others. The attitude that it is the divine
structure being built that is worthy of respect and appreciation, not
those who did the work. Conversely, that no person is unworthy of
respect simply because his apparent participation in the Great Work is
small or nonexistent.

5. The attitude that service given freely to others is service given
to oneself.

It must be emphasized that the concept of service as it is presented
here does not mean the same thing as either "servitude" or "servili-
ty". At all times, the one who seeks to serve in the Great Work must
demand for himself the same freedoms that he willingly gives to
others. He must at all times be the sole arbiter of the extent to
which he serves, the type and limits of that service, the interpreta-
tion placed upon that service, and the manner in which that service is
performed. 

No other being, not even a god, has the right to demand that he
perform acts that are against his own nature or inclination. As was
shown in the preceding section of this paper, the needs of the Great
Work are such that they can only be accomplished through freely given
cooperation. If circumstances seem to be pressuring a person towards a
certain course of action that he would not willingly participate in,
then that course is not part of the Great Work.

It must also be pointed out here that the person who has committed
himself to submission to the demands of his social group, who is truly
servile, will have as great a difficulty in attaining initiation as
the person who is wholly committed to just his own personal advance-
ment. He is just as locked into a tower of rigid forms as the self-
oriented person. Only, the tower in his case has been constructed by
others, out of the instinctual needs of the social group and the mass
of conventional thoughts and behaviors built up over the centuries. To
receive the touch of divine force, he must be blasted out of his tower
much as his polar opposite would.

It is only through this concept of the Great Work, of free service
freely given under the divine ideal, that the conflicting poles of
human social experience are reconciled and blended into a single path.
The individualist remains free to do his own will; the socialist
remains free to help his fellow humans. All that either sacrifices is
something to which they had no right in the first place: the use of
force or coercion against others.

Going back to our discussion of the destruction of forms, this at-
titude of service frees the individual from many of the pains, dif-
ficulties, and seeming terrors that the more self-oriented types
experience along the path of initiation. The one who is wholly com-
mitted to service in the Great Work does not perceive the structures
he has built as being in any way his own property or possession, but
rather as things that are only temporarily in his care. When the time
comes to create new forms to conform to the inflow of force in a new
initiation, he can let loose of them with a minimum of difficulty.
Since by definition the inner worlds become more inclusive as one
progresses through them, he knows that what will replace that which he
gives up can only improve his ability to participate in the Great
Work. He is not attached to the icons and symbols he has built, and so
experiences no loss in giving them up.

Another important point is that because the willful server has not
built his conceptions into a separate, monolithic structure, only
those parts of his decentralized structure that are incompatible with
the new flow of divine force will be destroyed. The majority of the
parts will remain intact. For the person trapped in a personalized or
socialized tower, this is not the case. Many parts of that tower, if
not so closely bound together, would not be destroyed by the new
force. But because they are bound together, when one falls they all
fall. The difference is that between a minor inconvenience and a full-
blown psychological disaster. Additionally, the fact that his intent
is habitually focused on sensing the divine ideal means that he will
be better able to maintain his awareness on a high level during the
process of destruction, and to a certain extent will be able to direct
it to critical points, making the process more efficient.

Most of us will fall somewhere between the trapped dualities of fully
individualized or fully socialized mental constraints on the one hand,
and the full freedom of the willful server on the other. The extent to
which we will be able to make the destructive aspects of initiation
occur in a smooth and controlled manner will be determined by the
extent to which we make an effort to adopt the perspective of the
willful server in the Great Work.


Phase II: Expansion and Absorption

It was mentioned in discussing the process of divine creation that the
divine ideal or initiating impulse is translated by mages into two
complementary aspects: a "Will" or "Intent" aspect and a "Vibratory"
aspect. It was the vibratory aspect that brought about the destruction
of incompatible forms in the previous phase, and which will be used to
test the newly synthesized forms in the last of the four stages of the
conformation cycle. In this phase and the next, it is the "pattern"
aspect which predominates. 

Since this "Intent" exists above the Abyss, it is difficult to give a
precise definition of what it is. It exists in the sephira Chokmah,
which is the archetypal "potential Son" which is eventually brought
into being in the lower worlds as the "true Son" in Tiphereth. Tipher-
eth being among those sephiroth where the principle of relationship is
most important, its archetypal precursor must in some way be concerned
with the universal potential for relationship inherent in the divine
ideal. It seems a contradiction to say that dualistic relationship
exists within the unity of the divine ideal, but this is a failure of 
description, not of fact. The relationships contained within the Will
aspect of the divine ideal are only potential, not actual. They are
the relationships that must be achieved if the divine ideal is to
become fully manifested.

It is this intent aspect, brought down into the worlds of the adept as
a force expressing potential relationship, with which the initiate is
concerned in the next two phases.

Destruction of the old forms frees the individual temporarily from
ties to the lower levels of his being. The inflow of divine force now
provides a channel by which the consciousness of the individual can
move upward into a new level of inclusiveness. His horizons are
expanded and new modes of perception appear as the force floods
through him. This stage is represented cabalistically by Sol, and the
tarot card The Sun.

Initially, this raising of consciousness comes automatically and
without effort on the part of the initiate. For a while, the indivi-
dual floats above the world, separated from it and unaffected by it,
yet feeling intimately connected with all that occurs there. He feels
full of light, free, and unconditioned. The forms which formerly held
him are no longer a constraint, and the time has not yet come for new
forms to be created. He takes in and re-radiates the force like the
sun at noon. 

If the person simply basks in the pleasure of this experience of
unconditionality without making a conscious effort to absorb it into
his being, then the old forms that were broken up eventually will re-
form into something like their original condition. The shards of
thought left over from the breakup act as seeds around which the
matter of the inner planes accumulates until the old structures are
complete again.

The person has to consciously grasp the inflowing force and use it to
pull himself up to the highest level possible. He must make an effort
to identify himself, to the extent that he is capable, with the divine
Will. Holding himself on that high level, he must direct the force
into his lower bodies; by comparing the remaining forms to the intent
inherent in the divine force, he determines which of them will be of
use in the new creation and which will not. He then uses the force to
burn away, to occultly vaporize, all the other shards of form left
over from the destructive stage, as soon as he becomes conscious of
them. Through this process of grasping and directing the force, he
gradually forces out of his lower bodies all energies that are incom-
patible with the divine intent as he is currently able to sense it,
and replaces them with the incoming initiatory energy.

For each of the three types of persons mentioned above (the social-
ized, the individualized, and the willful server) this stage presents
certain opportunities and certain hazards.

For the person who is submitted to social constraints, this stage
represents the first experience of freedom and individuality. He
becomes aware for the first time that the forms and symbols that bind
him are not himself and do not originate from himself. Characteristi-
cally, he reacts to this by becoming deliberately unconventional,
taking his former constraints and turning them upside down. He devel-
ops a sense of vast humor at the actions of his fellows who are still
constrained, and has great fun disturbing their tranquility. Unfor-
tunately, judgment usually flies out the window along with the con-
straints, with consequences in his relations with others that can be
rather embarrassing. In short, he makes a grand fool of himself.

If he continues in his foolishness without consciously trying to grasp
that which has given him his freedom, then eventually the force of the
initiation will run out and his awareness will fall back into the
lower levels. Without the sustaining presence of the force to heighten
his awareness, he usually falls into a pattern of "conventional
unconventionality", trying to maintain the conditions created in
himself by the force without either the perspective or the energies
needed to create a true reflection of it. The patterns thus created
are a travesty or unconscious mockery of what could have been created
had he not lost hold of the force.

Since the beginning of the experience was a true initiation, the
person is often unaware of his "fall from grace", thinking that the
course he is following is the normal course after the Solar initia-
tion. He may think that he is still in an initiated state and try to
pass on the "wisdom" he has gained, getting into contact with others
in similar state to develop a "philosophy" or "style" of magick
reflecting the mocking form. 

Such philosophical travesties can be identified by their lack of
internal consistency, their lack of humor and self-criticism, their
non-specific contempt for anything normal or conventional, a frantic
emotionalism that is obvious to everyone except the philosophy's
practitioners, and a body of magickal techniques centered on ways to
destroy forms, rather than on bringing more inclusive forces into the
awareness.

Following the techniques of one of these travesties may indeed enable
the practitioner to get back up to the stage of freedom following the
destruction of forms for short periods. But because there is no more
inclusive force available to pull them him up any further, he in-
evitably falls back down into the lower levels again. He becomes a yo-
yo perpetually bobbing up and down between the solar and the lower
mental levels.

By consciously taking in the initiatory force and using it to burn
away those mind-sets and behavioral patterns that were imprinted on
him by society, the person submitted to social constraint achieves a
true solar consciousness, a true individuality in which the source of
all his behavior is his own inner being. The removal of social im-
printing leaves him aware in full consciousness of the "expressed
ideal" in Tiphereth, and able to bring it down into the lower worlds
in completely appropriate forms. Eventually as he becomes more fully
aware of that ideal (in the form that it comes to him through his own
soul) he enters the ranks of the adepts and becomes a conscious
creator of magickal links in the Great Work.

The fully individualized person is normally possessed of at least some
solar awareness to start with, and may in fact be living consciously
as a soul within the worlds of the Tree. All adepts have full solar
consciousness, and the problems of being trapped in the structure of
self-created relationships is characteristic of adepts. For them, this
problem comes from a failure to release forms created as part of the
Great Work. 

It is the nature of the solar consciousness to draw energies around
itself. The purpose of the soul is to act as a lens or focus for
energies coming from the core of being so that those energies might be
properly directed for use in the lower worlds of the Tree of Life.
This centralizing and attractive aspect of the soul is the means by
which that focus is achieved. In its attractive aspect the soul is in
fact an embodiment of the principle of relationship, and it is through
its own nature that the soul creates the magickal links between the
divine ideal and the lower worlds.

The inflow of force from the divine ideal under normal circumstance
will keep the adept from becoming too centered in this solar aware-
ness. When the force is present, it is unmistakably clear to the
individual awareness that it is not the center of being. But as was
said earlier, the manifestation of a divine ideal goes in cycles, and
also has periods of greater and lesser strength within its larger
cycles. It may be that, for reasons totally beyond the adept's con-
trol, the force of the divine ideal ceases to flow through him for a
time and no amount of invocation on his part will bring it back. He
experiences a time of dryness.

If this time goes on too long, the soul will continue to work at
forming appropriate vessels for the force out of the substance of its
own being, using such energy as it can draw from its immediate en-
vironment. But without the presence of the divine will, the strength
of the soul's own attractiveness is too strong to be fully overcome.
The created iconic structures, instead of being released into the
magickal world to do their work, become "stuck" to the adept. As more
and more of them are built, they form a shell around the adept until
he is trapped in a structure of his own creations. It is not fully his
fault, except in very rare cases, but it happens nonetheless. When the
force begins to flow again, or a new force from a higher level comes
in, these forms have to be blasted away.

A similar problem occurs when the adept reaches the lower edge of the
so-called "Abyss". At this point in his development, the adept has
effectively exhausted the potentials for relationship inherent in his
own soul. Yet the soul continues to build structures of relationship;
its nature does not permit it to do otherwise. The conscious being
comes to a point where he feels trapped in an endless cycle of old
expressions, each one following predictably on the one before. Nothing
seems new, and it sometimes feels as if the divine force has abandoned
him permanently. This is the experience of the Wasteland or Dark Night
of the Soul.

In either of these cases, it becomes a true struggle for the adept to
continue in his course towards the divine. He feels as if he is
smothering in his own wastes. The sense of hopelessness and despair
becomes a constant undercurrent to his experience and must be fought
against continuously. It is only by drawing on his inner reserves of
will that he is able to continue at all.

When the adept again experiences an inflow from the divine and it
begins to break up these accumulated forms, his sense of relief may be
so great that he just wants to lie back and enjoy the experience for a
while. But as was the case with the socially-imprinted apprentice, if
he does not consciously expand his awareness and absorb the incoming
force then the structures he has created will again gather around him
and cut him off from the divine. He must consciously draw himself up
to a point on the magickal planes that is wholly above those on which
the forms exist. And, from that high point, he must direct the force
downwards to vaporize and disperse the incompatible forms. And, as
with the apprentice, the divine force replaces that which it disper-
ses, remaining in the adepts being to be the material of new forms.

The apprentice goes through this stage consciously only once; it is
his initiation into the ranks of the adepts. The adept goes through
this stage and the succeeding stages many times, each time gaining a
higher perspective and a greater understanding of the links that make
up the body of the divine creation. Eventually, after he has exhausted
the potential for relationship in his individuality, this stage of
expansion and Absorption brings him to a point where the quality of
divine will in his being exceeds the quality of relationship, and he
moves into the ranks of mages.

For the willful server, this stage presents few problems; being
focused on the accomplishment of the Great Work more than on his own
advancement, he has few difficulties in destroying old forms. He has
no attachment to them. His problems, when they do appear, are of
another sort.

While the mode of free service freely given can be accomplished by
persons of any grade of initiation, its primary source is on the
planes "above" the "Abyss". It is a primary expression of the divine
ideal as it is being worked out in this current age, as the expression
of divine love was the divine ideal in the preceding Piscean age. 

The consciousness of those focused in the first three sephiroth is not
directed downwards into the worlds of matter, but rather upwards
towards the source of the divine ideal. The problems of those who are
fully committed to service to the Great Work will tend to reflect this
direction. (Though, being imperfect as we all are, they are also
likely to experience some of the problems of the other two groups.)
The main problem of the willful server is premature abandonment of the
lower worlds. He has little trouble releasing old forms and burning
away the debris. Instead, he is likely to become so identified with
the incoming divine force that he abandons any sense of a need to
bring it down into the worlds of men. Such an identification is only
appropriate for those who are mages. For them the goal of initiation
is total freedom from the Tree of Life, and entry into the greater
Tree of Cosmos, passing from the path of initiation onto the Star-
Roads, the ways of perpetual creativity and discovery.

For those who express the way of service in the lower worlds, this
course is inappropriate. If they follow it anyway, they become the
sort of spaced-out mystic who is unconcerned with anything within the
world, even his own life, so long as he can get lost in the divine.
The world becomes unreal to them even while they remain in it. Thus
the task of the willful server in this stage is the delicate one of
maintaining an attachment to the world, but not too strong an attach-
ment. Should he become too strongly attached, then he will begin to
experience the problems of the other two types spoken of here, and
will have to work out those problems before returning to his primary
mode of service.


Phase III: Synthesis of New Forms

The process by which the initiate creates new forms for the divine
ideal is the most difficult phase of the cycle of conformation to
describe. The previous two phases and the following phase have readi-
ly-comprehended material analogies; understanding of those phases is
merely one of extending known principles to new realms. This phase
also has its lower correspondences, but they are not well understood
even by those who are engaged in the activity. Both this current phase
and its lower correspondences contain the element of creativity, which
in its essence is a characteristic of the divine, and as subject to
difficulties of description as any divine aspect, for reasons describ-
ed in the first sections of this paper.

Because of this problem, we have to resort to more symbolic methods of
describing what goes on in this phase. As a framework for the discus-
sion, I begin by taking some excerpts from an ancient book in the
library of group with which I serve in the Great Work.  Meditation on
the sequence of steps shown here should provide the reader with an
intuitive comprehension of the process.


1. The artist rises to the height, and from that height surveys the
field of work.

2. The word goes forward. The work proceeds.

3. In the land below, the myriad beings sense the sound of the word,
and respond each in their way. The worthy come forth; the bad retreat;
and those that hear the sound but incomplete find their paths diverted
into loops not of their own devising. 

4. The myriad responding vibrate in harmony with the word, but know it
not. They see not the artist, nor know him save through the sound of
the word. It is for the artist to see, and to join them each in their
proper place within the great design.

5. Gently, o artist! Thy materials are but wisps of thought. The touch
of your will must be gentle, subtle, lest they be torn and broken.

6. Gently does the artist's sound direct the myriad creatures in their
motions. Remaining themselves, yet they begin to move as well within
the dance of the pending creation.

7. The dance begins with each alone, each in his own path. Yet as the
sound of creation becomes more pervasive, so do those paths bend and
curve, and in their motion the faintest outline of the pending crea-
tion begins to appear. Creatures touch and separate again. Behind them
in their motion spin out threads of the seven primary powers in their
forty-nine divisions. So is the matrix of creation built.

8. The dance of motion settles into formal mode; the creatures move
and flow along paths of elegant simplicity, each one balanced against
all others.

9. The artist sounds the word again, but at a higher pitch. The myriad
creatures caught within the web of powers vibrate in their place,
attempt to match the higher pitch, yet their natures constrain them
from doing so. The excess will flows into the web-threads; they expand
their length. No longer tight between the creatures they connect, the
threads loop and soar in dimensions previously unknown. They put out
children, which link in nexuses where no creature stands.

10. From the mouth the artist sounds the word; the heart of the artist
casts forth nodes of attraction on which the truly new will form. The
eye of the artist directs the nodes to gather in the empty nexuses of
the web. The nodes put forth their call, and from the unknown places
they draw forth that which is the Heart of Newness. 

11. The Heart opens, and heat floods the web. The motion of the
dancers changes and the web expands. Upon those nexuses where the
nodes dwell there come forth creatures new and wondrous to behold, yet
fully one with the elder creatures taken from the prior cycle. 

12. The dance again in formal mode, the creatures balanced once again
in swirling movements. 


1. As in the previous phases, emphasis is placed on the necessity for
the initiate to do the work from the highest level he is capable of
reaching. Since the intent of this phase is to create forms reflecting
the divine ideal, and to create magickal links between those forms and
the ideal, the consciousness of the initiate must be raised to the
highest level of which it is capable, and at that point must attach
itself to the divine ideal. 

This phrase introduces two other concepts as well. First, that the
initiate must remain detached from the things he is bringing into the
synthesis. The initiate's personal preferences, beliefs, desires and
intents must not be allowed to touch in any way upon the material of
the work. The divine ideal must be the sole guiding factor, whether
that ideal emanates from the divine monad at the core of the initi-
ate's own being, or from some greater source.

The depiction of the initiate as an artist emphasizes that the work
being done is an act of creation. For the duration of the act the
initiate becomes the vehicle of the divine creative power, a channel
through which that power flows so that creation may be extended deeper
into matter.

2. The divine creative power begins by elaborating itself to express
its two subordinate aspects: the divine plan or Word of Chokmah ("the
word goes forward"), and the divine activity or vibrational energy of
Binah ("the work proceeds"). "Goes forward" and "proceeds" both
include the idea of extension, that is, of the divine will directing
itself into relationship with something not itself.

The initiate, identifying with the divine ideal, must take the force
of the ideal and project it into the lower worlds. He must project
what he perceives of the divine plan onto the matter of the lower
worlds, and stimulate that matter into action through the use of
vibrational energy.

The creation of the synthetic forms takes place in two stages. In the
initial stages of the form-building phase, concentration will be on
those things already existing within the lower worlds that reflect
some aspect of the divine ideal. Gathering these together into a
pattern roughly reflecting the divine ideal provides the foundation on
which the truly new aspects of the ideal can be implemented. 

The possibilities for change and creation depend on the current state
of that to which the change is being applied. There must be a pre-
existing potential for change of a particular type in the material of
the lower worlds before such a change can be brought about. Each
change must build on that which came before. No creation springs full-
blown into existence wholly unrelated to preceding events. 

This point is so obvious that it becomes subtle. In our normal lives
we have massive amounts of information, collected through experience,
on the potential for change inherent in the objects making up the
mundane world. We use this information so automatically that in most
cases, inappropriate changes never come to the surface of conscious-
ness. It takes a deliberate effort to bring them to mind.

Similar restrictions exist on the inner planes. A divine ideal can not
be manifested unless at least portions of the world, as it currently
exists, are able to respond to its impulse. But unlike the case on the
physical plane, one is not limited to only those changes that are
fully capable of development in the material as it exists. So long as
at least a few aspects of the divine ideal generate a direct response
from the material of the lower planes, the remaining aspects can
eventually be evoked. This evocation is the second stage of the
process of synthesis.

3. The initial stage begins with the projection of the divine ideal
and vibration onto the material of the lower planes. Here that matter
is presented in terms of "creatures" or created things, self-sustain-
ing complexes of ordered activity. This is a true picture; at this
point in the evolution of the universe, there is no matter on any
plane that is not part of such a complex. These "creatures" respond to
the incoming Word and Vibration according to their compatibility with
the ideal being expressed.

In the original book, two images are used to help expand on this
verse. In the first image, grains of sand are poured onto a vibrating
metal plate. Those grains whose size and shape are "harmonious" to the
plate's vibration tend to gather into specific areas on the plate.
Those with inharmonious size and shape are bounced off the edge of the
plate by the vibration. And those that are marginally or partially
harmonious tend to migrate around the surface of the plate in circular
motions.

In the second image, subatomic particles with varying electrical
charges pass through a magnetic field. Some are pushed away from the
field all together. Some are diverted into orbits of various sizes,
depending on their inherent charge. And others are drawn to the center
of the magnetic field and stay there.

Both magnetic-like and vibration-like processes contribute to the
linking of forms in the conformation cycle. The Word aspect of the
divine ideal has a magnetic or attractive quality, since it is the
archetype of the quality of relationship. The Energy or Activity
aspect of the ideal provides the vibratory effects. Between them these
two effects produce a sorting of the forms remaining after the de-
struction stage, according to their innate compatibility with the
ideal, followed by an attraction and arrangement of these forms into a
pattern that is harmonious with the ideal. This pattern constitutes a
first approximation of the ideal within the realm of relationship.

4. The pattern is an approximation because many of the forms attracted
to it may actually fit into the pattern in several places. The place
in the pattern into which the form initially fall may or may not be
the most appropriate. As the verse says, the creatures' reactions to
the vibration are unconscious; while they exhibit the quality of
intelligent activity, that quality does not provide them with the
means of distinguishing between several appropriate responses. They
have no capacity for interpreting the Word. The first reasonably
appropriate place encountered in their motion is the one into which
they fall.

The magician must examine this initial pattern in detail, looking at
the forms that have become part of the pattern and determining whether
each one might not better represent the ideal when placed in another
position. Where this is the case, the magician must use the will to
relocate the form.

5. This verse cautions that this conscious rearrangement by the
magician must be done carefully. The forms must not be forced into an
inappropriate location; it will fit into any correct location in the
pattern without stress. The magician must constantly compare the
elements of the pattern with the divine ideal, and make only those
changes that are in conformity with it. Attempting to force a form
into the wrong place results in either the destruction of the form or
the disruption of the forming pattern. Care is particularly necessary
when the forms being brought into the pattern are human souls.

6. Once the remaining forms are set into the pattern, then the divine
aspect of activity or energy is brought into play with greater force.
The static pattern becomes dynamic; the individual movements of the
forms within the pattern begin to become coordinated. Yet this coor-
dination is only apparent from outside the pattern. Each individual
form, if we could take its viewpoint, would still feel within itself
that it was following the dictates of its own nature, and not some
outside force.

7. Increasing the force of the vibrations applied to the pattern
causes two things to happen. First, the paths of motion followed by
the forms begin to contract about a center, and to become increasingly
"circular" within the magickal space the pattern occupies. Along with
the contraction, the motions of the forms speed up and become more
coordinated. 

Second, when each form has absorbed as much of the energy as it can,
it begins to re-radiate it as threads or lines of energy expressing
its internal composition. As the forms pass close to one another in
their motion, threads of similar energies reach out and connect them.
These threads of energy are the expression within the realm of rela-
tionship of the archetypal pattern of the divine ideal. They are the
magickal links it is the adepts task to create.

8. Once these relationships between forms have been established, the
pattern begins to expand and to rotate more quickly. The expansion
continues until a point is reached where the incoming energy is just
sufficient to maintain the current size. The motion settles into a
stable but continuously rotating frame. The overall pattern becomes a
"vortex", a chakra in the body of the Earth, expressing a particular
divine intent. At this point, the first stage of synthesizing the
forms is complete, and all existing forms that are relevant have been
absorbed into the pattern. The next step is to create forms corres-
ponding to those aspects of the divine intent that are truly new.

9. The magician again applies the vibrations of the divine intent to
the created vortex, but this time he deliberately causes them to be at
a higher harmonic of the vibrations used previously. As in the physi-
cal world, the amount of energy carried by these vibrations is related
to the frequency. Since the new vibrations are harmonic to the old,
the pattern of the assembled forms is not changed. However, the new
vibrations contain more energy than can be held by the forms, and it
has to be disposed of somewhere. In this case it passes into the
threads of relationship connecting the forms. 

The threads respond to this inflow of energy by extending their
length, or by splitting off additional threads. The innate patterning
of the divine word causes these threads to extend themselves in
certain directions, towards points where the new aspects presented by
the divine word will lie within the completed pattern of relation-
ships. There they link together into "nexuses" as if the new aspects
were already present. Their connections define the context the new
aspects are intended to take within the existent world.

10. The magician now must engage in a true act of creation. Combining
the three divine aspects of Will (the eye), relationship (the heart),
and activity (the mouth), he creates seed-forms or nodes representing
in skeleton form those aspects of the divine ideal that have not
previously existed within the lower worlds. These nodes form within
the plane represented by Tiphereth, and from there are directed by the
magician into their proper places within the web of energies in the
vortex.

The primary force activating the nodes is the force of attractiveness
or manifest relationship; by this force they are intended to pull into
form those energies that were previously unknown within the person's
awareness of the world, but which are needed to fulfill the intent of
the divine ideal.

It should be stressed that even when these unknown energies are truly
new to our world (and not simply new to the magician's experience)
they do exist in the universe prior to the formation of the nodes;
they simply have not previously appeared within the aura of the Earth,
which currently defines the overall context within which all human
creators work. On the inner planes, the Earth is occultly "blocked"
from direct contact with the rest of the universe. It is a "hothouse"
in which certain conditions are artificially maintained in order to
accomplish tasks not possible in the context of the changing condi-
tions of the larger universe. Certain types of energies are inter-
cepted and diverted before reaching the Earth; others are distorted or
leached of their information content. The Earth has in effect formed a
magickal circle around herself, and banished these energies from the
area of the circle.

As conditions on Earth evolve under the divine will, it is possible to
productively introduce some of these blocked energies into her aura.
When this is possible, the need for them is presented through a divine
ideal in the process of being manifested. When the magicians working
on that manifestation reach the current point in the process, then
they create these nodes of attractiveness. Through the power of
attractiveness, the nodes pull these needed energies through the
barrier of the Earth's magickal circle.

As the energy accumulates around the created node, it first gathers
and converts a portion of the matter of the Tiphereth plane so that it
responds to the incoming energy. The matter absorbs and holds a larger
portion of the energy than the node can hold through its own attrac-
tiveness. The node and the matter together continue to gather and hold
more energy, forming a core manifestation for the new divine prin-
ciple. This core is the "Heart of Newness" referred to.

11. Eventually enough energy is gathered that the core begins to re-
radiate it and to produce effects on the other matter of the vortex.
This event appears suddenly when a "critical mass" of energy has been
accumulated. The "Heart" opens up and spreads its energy throughout
the web. The new energy requires an adjustment of the balance between
the forms linked in the vortex; the vortex expands and the forms move
into a new relationship balancing all the powers involved.

The forms expressing new principles from the divine ideal eventually
stabilize, and their activity becomes indistinguishable from that of
forms left over from the prior cycles of creation. The new principles
become fully manifested within the realm of relationship.

12. The pattern expressed by the forms settles into a stable and
ordered activity again, and the process of creation is complete.

Phase IV. Testing of New Forms

In an ideal world, every creation would be made perfectly on the first
attempt. But in our world, such is almost never the case. The vision
of the creating being is imperfect; for many reasons, he does not (at
a particular moment) see all of the divine intent he is capable of
sensing. And his ability to sense the divine intent grows with con-
tinued exposure. A form that appears to fulfill the intent at the time
of its creation may in a short time begin to show inadequacies and
distortions. This happens whether the form is part of his own in-
itiatory work, or part of his conscious participation in the Great
Work. Thus there is the necessity for testing the created form against
the original divine ideal, and for reiterating the conformation
process until it becomes the best representation of the divine ideal
that the creating being can make. 

The creation must be tested before it is directed towards manifesta-
tion in the lower, "material" planes. Once the created form is linked
to those planes, it becomes effectively "locked" into its current
form. The inertia it acquires in manifestation makes it much more
difficult to modify. Even if the created form is destroyed, it will
have continuing residual effects. The Earth retains the imprint of all
creations manifested within it, and those imprints affect the pos-
sibilities for all future manifestations. Creations manifested as part
of the magician's own being have a similar inertia, as described under
Phase I above.

Testing is a relatively simple matter, compared to the previous
stages. The magician takes the "note" or vibrational energy radiated
by the solar form and compares it with the note sounded by the divine
ideal. The differences between them indicate portions of the form that
must be changed, and places in the form where something must be added.

In this work, the magician must stand apart from both the form and the
ideal. He must be able to sense the notes sounded by each with perfect
clarity; the notes sounded by his own consciousness must be reduced to
a level approaching silence. His involvement as creator of the form
must be temporarily forgotten. His pleasure in that act of creation
must be held in abeyance. For the moment he attempts to become a being
with no distinguishable characteristics, save for the subtlest bit of
will maintaining his attention on the notes being compared.

Once the magician has understood the differences between the solar
form and the divine ideal as he senses it, he can then direct the form
back through the previous three phases of the conformatin cycle. On
these later iterations, complete destruction of the form is rarely
required. Usually, only minor portions must be destroyed and rebuilt.
Much more often, the testing only reveals areas where the form is
incomplete and additional properties must be added. Once these addi-
tions are made, he builds in substructures and elaborations, creating
harmonies on the basic note sounded by the form. After several itera-
tions he can no longer perceive any difference between the notes of
form and ideal, and prepares to effectuate the final link between the
form and the material planes.

In the initiatory process, this final link involves an affirmative
identification of the awareness with the created form. The initiate
says "this is what I now should be". He proceeds to the work of making
his thoughts, feelings, and behavior, his activities within the
manifest planes, conform to the nature of the solar form. By making
his material bodies the reflect of the solar form he creates a channel
by which the particular part of the divine will that he senses can
continue to flow into his being. This flow in turn gradually attracts
matter on higher planes and builds it into his being.This matter
creates "bodies" on more subtle planes through which he can work.
Habitual use of these bodies eventually causes the focus of his
consciousness to stabilize at a higher level than previously possible.
The initiation is thus completed, and the major cycle of initiation
can begin again.

                                 -oOo-