Lbrp, Middle Pillar, And Kundalini Options

I recently on the advice of this site purchased a copy of MODERN MAGICK: Eleven Lessons on the High Magickal Arts.

I have begun practicing the LBRP and found it quite useful, leaving me with powerful shielding, a banished and clean atmposphere, and also a highly charged magickal / spiritual energy.

I then moved on to the Middle Pillar Ritual which as it stated in the text is quite similair to Eastern practices having to do with the chakra and kundalini, which i have been practicing for years now.

I was wondering, is there any particular reason / difference in experience that i should know about when practicing these rituals or would it perhaps better to continue with my chakra / kundalini work as a "MIddle Pillar" sort of ritual since i already know the technique.

Overall, the style of Ceremonial Magick is more complicated then i'm used to, but i think that having set up my altar, gotten some rudimentary tools, and begun practicing that aspects of it will be quite useful to add to my repitoire of other magickal styles.

Any comments, thoughts, advice, as i continue my practice?
(See my entry in the profile piece if you wish more background on the type of magick i am used to performing.)

*bows*

Light and Darkness,

Velarius

I guess I'll toss in my 2 cents:

I have done the Middle Pillar exercise but not over a long period of time. I did not find it the same as spinning up the chakras. You used the word similar. One of the biggest cautions that was hammered in to me by my teachers is DO NOT compare exercises form different traditions. They may seem similar but they are not.

The Middle Pillar uses hebrew names, where as spinning up the chakras do not. Yes there are sounds associated with the chakras but they are not in hebrew.

I found the Middle Pillar to be very powerful and not as gentile although a very nice exercise. THe opening of chakras seem more subtle to me, maybe because I have been doing it for over 40 yrs.

Besides the obvious difference in the 2 exercises there is the intent of the exercises. That is pretty much completely different, and there for the effect is completely different. I am speaking here of the intent of the originator of the exercise.

If it were me I would treat them as totally different exercises. I would do that with all exercises, but that is me and my training. Please save your self problems down the road and try not to compare one exercise to another. We all do it, at least I do until I catch myself. There are exercises out there that are old beyond belief and were made and done with a specific intent, comparing them could be disastrous. I am not trying to scare off experimentation, but I do think one gets more out of an exercise if they do the exercise for the exercises sake.

A note on spinning up the chakras:
Some years ago I was taught a different way instead of starting at the top or at the bottom as is traditional, some of the native american traditions would start at the heart, then the solar plexus and the throat at the same time, then the navel (actually about 2" below) and the 3rd eye, then the root and the crown. This I have found no where else in my studying (50 yrs worth). I have been doing this now for at least 5 yrs and I find it remarkable. It adds heart power (as some put it) for spinning up the chakras, which seems to raise ones compassion a bit (not my strong point).

Anyway maybe that will help.

Krell

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/ac42.gif)

Do not confuse the two practises! Kundalini tends to involve inward seeking and the awakening of the fire serpent. The Middle Pillar does not and is used to fortify the energy body for work from without. Krells two cents are worth listening to. Also, you should study under a master when working with the Kundalini. There used to be a hotline for people who got stuck in the Kundalini exercises...which can be strong enough to do one in. A cautionary note...believe it or don't. Good Luck! But...practise them seperately! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/i_triangle.gif)

Krell and Bym,

Thank you very much for your well thought out replies. Having gone back and practiced both practices again with an eye toward what you were saying i can see the subtle differences.

I am espeically impressed with the LBRP and its effects.

Thanks Again,

Velarius

I just wanted to add, that i have added the Middle Pillar Ritual, and the Circle of Light to my practice of the LBRP and have had great success. The amount of energy swiriling around my person was amazing to behold, and my pentagram visualizations have begun to flare and pulsate.

I have begun using the energy as Modern Magick describes to IOB Identify, Objectify, and Banish qualities within myself ... like worry that have been bothering me as of late. I am feeling very strong, and the element of earth has given me great stregth and resolve to face lifes current issues.

I am very impressed with the effects the Ceremonial Magick has had in such a short amount of time.

Thoughts?

I just wanted to add, that i have added the Middle Pillar Ritual, and the Circle of Light to my practice of the LBRP and have had great success. The amount of energy swiriling around my person was amazing to behold, and my pentagram visualizations have begun to flare and pulsate.

I have begun using the energy as Modern Magick describes to IOB Identify, Objectify, and Banish qualities within myself ... like worry that have been bothering me as of late. I am feeling very strong, and the element of earth has given me great stregth and resolve to face lifes current issues.

I am very impressed with the effects the Ceremonial Magick has had in such a short amount of time.

Thoughts?

On a similar line of thought (the QC is usually part of the LBRP, yes?) I'm beginning to suspect that the Qabbalistic Cross has helped me with dream recall somewhat, although that is a tentative theory. I've also had some central forehead acne which I think someone else here mentioned and associated with astral parasites; after I started doing the QC I noticed that went.

I'm not entirely sure what the QC does, but from its' effects on me I'm assuming it's primarily for energetic regulation. It seems to be an organisational thing more than anything else; putting different energies in their proper place. Can bym or any of the more experienced magicians here offer some more insight on this...am I on the right track in terms of what I think it's doing?

I recently on the advice of this site purchased a copy of MODERN MAGICK: Eleven Lessons on the High Magickal Arts.

I have begun practicing the LBRP and found it quite useful, leaving me with powerful shielding, a banished and clean atmposphere, and also a highly charged magickal / spiritual energy.

I then moved on to the Middle Pillar Ritual which as it stated in the text is quite similair to Eastern practices having to do with the chakra and kundalini, which i have been practicing for years now.

I was wondering, is there any particular reason / difference in experience that i should know about when practicing these rituals or would it perhaps better to continue with my chakra / kundalini work as a "MIddle Pillar" sort of ritual since i already know the technique.

Im my humble opinion do both . I have and find that raising energy through the Kundalini Channel is similar in its effect if not in the method but the feeling is different . The Middle Pillar is more than raising energy . It seems at least in our circle to open us to the middle sepiroth also . I would make a distinction in that kundalini opened the stones but the MP opened the sepiroth of the middle pillar Tipareth , Yesod and Kether . I do not find Daath on the MP but to either side of it with another later manifesting aqua sepiroth the 12th invisible one .

You seem to have a good idea on this . How is it going now ?

Would sks please delete my doublepost made in error ? thanks .

This post has been edited by Aunt Clair: Aug 10 2008, 08:45 AM

I am in the same boat as you, Velarius,. I have been practicing in the western occult tradition for about 4 years now, but had been practicing eastern mysticism, including Kundalini yoga disciplines for more than 20 years and can speak plainly , empirically, and informatively about all that alarmist jargon about what a Kundalini crisis is and is not and how to safely practice. The first 2 folks posting about the subject, while they may know about it from the western perspective, don't seem to know what they are talking about in terms of Kundlalini and chakra work. The only folks who "spin their chakras" are New Agey types --not real yoga practiitioners (and you did not make mention of "spinning chakras" anyway, Velarius).

Ceremonial magic--and Chaos magic theory as well --have strong parallels in content and effects with Tantric Hindu, Yogic, and Buddhist disciplines. Modern and post-modern magick in fact is strongly influenced by eastern Tantra --and I don't just mean the sex practices, which is a minor and marginalized aspect of Tantra overall. Furthermore, in medieval Hermeticism, the archonic planets and also the Cabalist sefira are treated in a way similar to how the chakras are treated in eastern mysticism, including in relation to doctrine about the emanation of the elemental / sefirotic planes and also in relation to symbolism related to the lightning bolt and serpents and also ritiual magical objects, such as the staff. A primary difference is that in the west--as in performing the Kabbalist cross either in the GD, Thelema, or Aurum Solis (all with their own special names for these things), etc.,--the line of energy is seen as coming from above and descending into the person; in eastern mysticism, it is generally (but not always) treated as coming from within the person and moving up in a path of ascent/return. Part of the reason for this *might *be the west's focus on dualism, and the east's on nondualism. They are just templates and constructs to help open up the central channel. I use have no problem doing an LBRP or a western type energy circulating exercise when required and a chakra meditation when required. It's all the same to me and has the same effects.

This post has been edited by Zosimo: Sep 14 2008, 09:17 PM

Greetings Zosimo!

I am not an authority on Kundalini yoga, but, being one of the 'first two folks' that answered Velariuses post I feel abit put out to be lumped together with 'chakra-spinning/new agey' individuals in this case. No where did I allude to any such practice...nor did Krell, I do believe. My first taste of Kundalini yoga came from the lips of a yoga instructor at a local college about 50 years ago. At that time there was (just beginning) the movement towards the study of mysticism AND yoga in the USA. Coming from the NE we were still behind our Californian counterparts that benefited from all things Eastern. There were hotlines established throughout various parts in the USA concerning troubles encountered from people mucking about with Kundalini, this occuring sometime in the later sixties. I remember quite vividly a few rather startling occurences that happened with myself whilst engaged in the raising of the serpent power. I stand by my cautionary note...if you wish to practice Kundalini Yoga then do so with a knowledgable teacher. I have never, repeat, ever mixed the two systems(Western magic/Kundalini Yoga). Nor do I subscribe to the mountains of 'magic(k)al' drivel that has been showered down on us from every person to write a book on the occult. Have a care! You know absolutely nothing about my knowledge of chakra work nor of my personal meditative practices.

I am in the same boat as you, Velarius,. I have been practicing in the western occult tradition for about 4 years now, but had been practicing eastern mysticism, including Kundalini yoga disciplines for more than 20 years and can speak plainly , empirically, and informatively about all that alarmist jargon about what a Kundalini crisis is and is not and how to safely practice. The first 2 folks posting about the subject, while they may know about it from the western perspective, don't seem to know what they are talking about in terms of Kundlalini and chakra work. The only folks who "spin their chakras" are New Agey types --not real yoga practiitioners (and you did not make mention of "spinning chakras" anyway, Velarius).

Ceremonial magic--and Chaos magic theory as well --have strong parallels in content and effects with Tantric Hindu, Yogic, and Buddhist disciplines. Modern and post-modern magick in fact is strongly influenced by eastern Tantra --and I don't just mean the sex practices, which is a minor and marginalized aspect of Tantra overall. Furthermore, in medieval Hermeticism, the archonic planets and also the Cabalist sefira are treated in a way similar to how the chakras are treated in eastern mysticism, including in relation to doctrine about the emanation of the elemental / sefirotic planes and also in relation to symbolism related to the lightning bolt and serpents and also ritiual magical objects, such as the staff. A primary difference is that in the west--as in performing the Kabbalist cross either in the GD, Thelema, or Aurum Solis (all with their own special names for these things), etc.,--the line of energy is seen as coming from above and descending into the person; in eastern mysticism, it is generally (but not always) treated as coming from within the person and moving up in a path of ascent/return. Part of the reason for this *might *be the west's focus on dualism, and the east's on nondualism. They are just templates and constructs to help open up the central channel. I use have no problem doing an LBRP or a western type energy circulating exercise when required and a chakra meditation when required. It's all the same to me and has the same effects.

While i am someone who has done a lot of research into "new-agey" sort of practices, i think that i have done enough research into Eastern and Western Mysticism to know when i am looking at Jargon and when i am looking at helpful practice, so in that respect i definitely know what your saying. I especially appreciate your willingness to try and utilize both in your life as this is a major goal in my life, to take what works from many diciplines and spiritualities and use them in my life to better myself and others.