New pranayam being experimented with...with respects to Lord Shiva-Shakti

Do alternate nose breathing.
As you inhale from left nostril lift up perimeum and send the energy to the top of the head.
Exhale from right nostril and lower peririum
Now inhale from right nostril and raise perinium

my theory is that this  will balance the nadis and ensure that the energy moves up the sushumna and not any other naadis.

From needleman's book Time and Soul

Long ago there was a young merchant named Kirzai whose business called for him to travel to the village of Tchigan, some hundred miles away. Ordinarily, he would have taken the long route that followed the edge of the mountains, protecting him from the sun. But on this occasion, Kirzai was under the pressure of time. He needed to get to Tchigan as soon as possible to complete a certain business deal. So, he decided to strike out across the Syr Darya desert. 

Now the Syr Darya desert was known for its intense and merciless heat. Very few took the dangerous passage. Nevertheless, Kirzai watered his camel, filled his gourds and set off on his journey.

Several hours after he left, the desert wind began to rise. The winds swirled. The sand shifted underfoot. Landmarks became obscured. Suddenly, a hundred yards ahead of him, Kirzai saw a gigantic whirlwind. Never had he seen anything like it. It cast a strange purple light all around it. Even the color of the sand was changed. He hesitated, not knowing whether to continue or make a lengthy detour. But he was in a great hurry, so he lowered his head, hunched his shoulders, and pressed forward into the strange storm. To his surprise, the moment he entered the storm, it became much calmer. The wind no longer cut against his face. 

But suddenly Kirzai stopped again. Ahead of him, he saw a man stretched out on the ground next to a crouching camel. Kirzai dismounted and approached the man. 

The stranger’s head was wrapped in a scarf but Kirzai could see that he was old. The old man opened his eyes, looked intently at Kirzai and then said in hoarse whisper, “Is it. . .you?”

Kirzai laughed and said, “Has my fame spread to the desert of Syr Darya? But you old man, who are you?” 

The man said nothing. Kirzai continued, “In any case, you are not well. Where are you going?” 

The old man sighed, “To Givah…but I have no more water.”

Kirzai reflected. If he shared his water with the old man, he would not have enough to complete his own journey. He would be forced to turn back. “But a man can not be left to die without a backward glance!” Kirzai thought. 

So he helped the old man drink some water, filled one of the man’s gourds and helped him to mount his camel. “Go straight ahead” Kirzai said, pointing with his finger. “You’ll reach Givah within two hours.” 

The old man made a sign of acknowledgement with his hands and looked for a long moment at Kirzai. Then he uttered these strange words:

“One day the desert will repay you.” 

Some thirty years later, while he was in the market place of Tchigan, Kirzai learned his oldest son had become gravely ill in Givah. Kirzai was under the pressure of time. He needed to get to his son. He determined to try the fastest way: through the Syr Darya desert. He watered his camel, filled his gourds, and set off.

Along the way, he spurred his camel on, not even slowing down while drinking, and that is when the accident happened. He dropped his gourd of water and before he could retrieve it, he watched the water disappear into the sand. Kirzai cursed out loud. With only one full gourd, it was impossible to cross. Yet, for his son, he pressed onward… “I must get to him…I will get to him.” 

But the Syr Darya is merciless, and cares not why a person braves its danger or how noble their cause. Kirzai’s skin burned. His throat was parched. He knew he had made a grave mistake. His last gourd was empty and a sandstorm was rising. The winds swirled. The once stable ground started to shift underfoot. Landmarks became obscured. He wrapped his head in his scarf and let his camel carry him where it could. He did not even see the gigantic whirlwind which arose before him, giving off a soft purple light. His camel was startled and crouched, throwing Kirzai to the ground. “This is the end,” he thought. 

Suddenly, he was filled with joy to see a man mounted on a camel approaching him. But the closer the man came, the more Kirzai’s joy turned to stupefication. This man who approached – it seemed Kirzai knew him! He recognized his youthful face, his clothes, even the camel that he rode. Kirzai was certain: the young man who came to help him was himself. 

“Is it. . .you?” said Kirzai in hoarse whisper,

The young man looked at him and laughed. “What? Don’t tell me you know who I am! Has my fame spread to the desert of Syr Darya? But you old man, who are you?”

Kirzai was speechless. The young man went on, “In any case, you are not well. Where are you going?” “To Givah,” replied Kirzai, “but I have no more water.”

Kirzai saw that the young man was trying to decide what to do—to give help or to continue on his own journey. But Kirzai knew what the decision would be – he smiled as the young man offered him a drink of water, filled his empty gourd, and helped him onto his camel. “Go straight ahead that way and you’ll be in Givah within two hours.” 

The old Kirzai looked for a long moment at the young man he had once been. He wished to speak to the young man of many things, but he could only find these words: “One day the desert will repay you.” 

Kirzai grew to be a wise man, so the story goes. When he would tell his strange tale, everyone who heard it believed it was true. Ever since that time, the desert of Syr Darya has been known by the name, Samovstrecha, which means: the desert where one meets oneself.

Directing the movement of the sexual energy

To use your transmuted sexual energy follow these basic steps:
Begin by building up you sexual energy. The deer exercise can be used for this purpose or you can use any other form of sexual stimulation that brings you joy. You may want to practice this alone at first as having a partner can be distracting. However, once you have mastered the process of sexual transmutation, having a partner in your manifestation process will multiply your power.
Once you have built up your sexual energy and have achieved a state of ecstasy and joy, begin to move the energy up your body to the higher chakras. Contract your pelvic floor muscles to pump the hormones up into the endocrine system. Make the sound of "aah" deep form you diaphragm to aid in moving the energy.
You will likely experience a tingling sensation in your spine as the energy moves up. Move the energy first in to the creative chakra. Visualize bright yellow colors as you feel your creativity expand. If you have any kind of problem in your life, now is the time to think of creative solutions. Don't loose your sexual stimulation by focusing too much on the problem. Allow only the solution to drift into your mind then let it go. Continue with the "aah" sound to help move the energy.
Move the energy up to the heart chakra. Feel the power of love and sexual energy combine. Feel loving appreciation for your sexual power and energy. Experience increasing joy and ecstasy as the sexual energy is transmuted into love.
Now continue to move the sexual energy into the throat chakra. Feel the vibration of the "aah" sound as it resonates in you throat. Feel the power to express your desires. Feel the tingle in your back. If you sexual energy is starting to fade, go back to your sexual stimulation. Build up as much energy as you can without releasing it through ejaculation.
Now bring the sexual energy up to the level of the third eye. Feel the power of your love and sexual energy in your forehead. Feel the tingle in your back.
Clench your pelvic muscles to send bursts of energy up through your body. Allow sounds of pleasure to escape your mouth.
Continue to send bursts of energy into your desires as long you feel happy doing so. Do not push yourself to exhaustion. Just enjoy the flow of energy. Maintain the state of ecstasy for as long as possible. Take some time before you return to your normal routine.

(http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Transmute-Sexual-Energy-to-Achieve-Success-and-Manifest-Desires&id=1840310 )

Chapter 6 - Kundalini practices reference in Gyaneshwari

Chapter 6 of Gyaneshwari

I shall now describe to you an excellent Mudra. first he should sit folding the legs on the corresponding thighs placing the left leg obliquely over the other leg. Then pressing firmly the right heel against the sphincter of the anus, and keeping it on the ground, he should press it against the pubic bone so that the right heel perches on the left heel. Of the space of four fingers between the anus and the male organ he should leave the space of one and half fingers above and below (191-195) and press by the upper part of the heel the middle space one finger wide. Then balancing the body, as if lifting the lower part of the spinal column, he should keep the two ankles straight. Now the whole body, O Partha, remains steady on the two heels, Arjuna, this is the characteristic of the mudra known as mulabandha, also known as vajrasana, the diamand posture. When he achieves this mudra, the inbreath, with its downward passage blocked, begins to move backwards (196-200).

·  Holding the body, head and neck erect and steady without motion, he should fix his gaze on the tip of his nose, without looking around.

Then he should place both his palms on the left knee, so that the shoulder blades are raised up. Since the shoulders are lifted up, the head becomes buried (in the chest) and the eye-lashes begin to close. The upper eye-lash remains steady and the lower one spreads out so that the eyes look half-closed. In this way, the vision remains inwards and even if it tries to go out, it remaains confined to the region of thenose-tip. Thus this half-closed sight remains centered inwards and unable, to go outwards, rests on the nose-tip (201-205). Then all desire to look in all directions or to wait until the activity of vaious form to impinge on the sight naturally ceases. Thereafter the adam's apple is pushed back and the chin is tightly set against the jugular notch pressing against the chest. When the adam's apple disappears from sight, the bandha so formed, O Arjuna, is known as Jalandhara (Chin-Lock). Then the navel comes up, the belly becomes deflated and inside the diaphragm rises up. This bandha which is formed above the lowest nerve centre and below the nerve-centre ate the neval is known as Udiyana. When the yoga proceeds in this manner in respect of the parts of the body, then it reduces the grip of the mental functions.

·  Then with a serene mind, and becoming fearless and firm in the vow of chastity, the yogi should control his mind, thinking of ME and remain devoted to Me.

Then the imagination subsides, activity becomes calm, and the functions of the body and the mind stand still. Then thoughts of hunger and sleep do not bother him and he does not even remember them. The in-beath which was confined by the anal construction (mulabandha) moves backwards and being excited and puffy, it grows in its place of confinement and bangs at the naval centre (manipura). Then this expanded in breath churns the belly from all sides and removes the impurities collected theirin from childhood. But instead of rolling at the bottom, it enters the belly and destroys the bile and phlegm therein. It overturns the seven humours without leaving a trace, pulversies the rolls of fat and draws out the marrow of the bones. It calms the nerves and making the limbs loose, frightens the spiritual aspirant, but he should not funk. It gives rise to illness, but cures it also instantaneously and mixes together the liquid (bile, phlegm etc.) and solid (flesh, marrow etc.) parts of the body (216-120). O Arjuna, next the heat nererated by the posture wakes up the serpent power known as Kundalini like a young serrpent bathed in red pigment (kumkuma) resting twisted round itself, this small serpent power, the kundalini, is asleep with mouth downwards in three and a half coils. She is like a streak of lightening or a fold of flame, or a polished band of pure gold.

This kundalini sitting crowded at the naval centre wakes up, when she gets pushed up by the annal contraction (mulabandh) (221-225). Now as though a star has fallen or the sun's seat has broken loose or the seed of lustre, which has been planted, has produced a sprout, so this serpent power is seen to uncoil herself and stand up relaxing her body on the naval centre. She has been hungry for long, and by reason of her being woken up, she opens her mouth wide and forcefully raises it up. Arjuna, then she embraces the in-breath collected under the lotus of the heart, and begins to bite the upper and lower flesh (226-230). She easily swallows the flesh wherever she can find it, and then she takes one or two mouthfuls of the heart's flesh also. Then she searches for the soles of the feet and palms of hands, and piercing their upper parts she shakes up all the limbs and joints. Thereafter without leaving her place, she draws out the core of the finger-nails, and cleansing the skin, clings to the skeleton. She clean up the bones and scrapes the fibres of muscles, so tht the grwoth of the hair-roots of the body begin to wither. Then she quenches her thirst by lapping up the seven humours, and makes the body completely dried up all over (231-235). Then she draws in forcibly the out-breath, flowing outwards from the nostrils to a distance of twelve fingers. She thereafter pulls up the in-breath and pulls down the out-breath, and when they meet, only the sheaths of nerve-centres remain. Both the breaths would have mingled at that time; but the Kundalini, being uneasy for a moment, asks them to keep away. O Arjuna, this serpent power eats up all the solid stuff in the body, and leaves nothing of the watery parts also. When she eats these solid and liquid parts of the body, she becomes satisfied and remains calm in the spinal cord (236-240).

In this state of satiation, the venom she turns in nectar and sustains life. The fiery venom which comes out nectar and sustains life. The fiery venom which comes out cools internally the body, which regains once again the strength which it had lost. The nervous flow stops and the nine life-breaths except prana cease and then the body too loses its functions. Then the breaths flowing through the left and right nostrils mingle, the knots of the three lower nerve-centres become loose, and the six nerve-centres become disjoined. The sun and moon currents of breath, which flow through the nostrils, are so subtle that they are not felt on the fibre held before them (241-245). The sparkle the intellect then ceases and the frangrance in the nose, along with the serpent power, entres the spinal cord. The cask of moon-nectar situated above tilts on one side, and the nectar begins to flow into the mouth of the Kundalini. The nectar fills her and then spreads to the whole body and is soaked therein by the aid of the prana. As wax, placed in a red-hot mould melts and fills it up, so the body looks as if lustre, covered by skin, has descended in the human form (246-250). As the sun, hidden behind the cloak of a cloud, comes out in full splendour when the cloud is scattered, so the scales of skin, which seemed dry, fall off like husk, and then the body assumes a complexion so comely as though it is fashined out of crystal or has sprouted from a gem, or dressed up with the red hue of the evening sky, of it is the figure taken on by the inner light. Then his body looks as if it is filled with red pigment and nectar or it appears as though it is peace incarnate (251-255). It is like a picture of delight, or a form of great happiness, or a full-grown bush of contentment, or a bud of gold-flowered champak (michelia Champaca) or a bust of nectar or an orchared laden with tender leaves, or like the moon embellished with the autumnal dew, or like a statue made of lustre sitting on a seat, when the Kundalini drinks the moon elixir. Then even Death-god stands in awe of that figure.

Then old age recedes, youthfulness takes a leap backwards, and the childhood which had long past returns (256-260). Even though he looks so young, he performs great feats and his courage is equally great and unexcelled. Even as sparkling buds come out from the leaves of the golden tree, new lustrous finger-nails come out of his body. He also gets new teeth, but they are so small, that they look like two rows of pearls set in the mouth. Like the broken bits of atom-sized rubies, tips of hair grow on his whole body. The palms of the hands and the soles of the feet become red like red lotuses and how can one describe his clear eyes (261-265)? Just as the shell cannot contain the pearl when it swells and becomes oversize, and its seam gives way and begins to open, so the sight, instead of being held within the eye-lashes, goes out far and wide and pervades the whole heaven. O Arjuna, the body takes on a golden colour but possesses the lightness of wind, having lost the liquid and solid parts of matter.

Then the yogi can see beyond the seas, hear the sounds of heaven, and comprehend the desire of an ant. He can ride on the wind, walk on water without wetting his feet, and in this way he acquires many miraculous powers (266-270). Holding the hand of prana and climbing the steps in the region of hearts, the Kundalini reaches the heart centre through the spinal cord. This Kundalini is the mother of the world, who illumine the self and gives shade to the sprouted seed of the universe. It is the embodiment of the formless Brahman, the cask of Lord Shiva, the main spring of the sacred syllable Om. When this outhful Kundalini enters the heart-centre, she begins to utter unbeaten sounds. The sounds fall slightly on the ears of intelligence, which is very close to the serpent power (271-275). In the cubicle from which these sounds emanate, they manifest themselves as figures as if drawn on the lines of Om. This can be known only by imagination, but where to find one who possess it? No one knows that rumbling foes on in the region of the heart. I forgot to mention, O Arjuna, that so long as prana remains, these subtle sounds are produced in the region of the heart. When the latter resounds with these sounds resembling the rumbling of clouds, then the window to the Brahmarudhra redily opens. There is another great region resembling the calyx of a lotus, in which the self resides aloft (276-280). The supreme Kundalini then enters this abode of the self and offers him the victuals of her lustre. She indeed offers intelligence as a vegetable dish to him and does it in such a way as to leave no trace of dualism. Then the Kundalini gives up her fiery complexion and reamins in the gaseous state. You might as well ask how she looks at that time. She dissolves herself in this gaseous form and keeps aside her garment of golden stripes. Even as the light is extinguished by the touch of the wind, or the lightning flashes and disappars in the sky (281-285), so when the Kundalinin enters the lotus of the heart centre, she looks like a gold-chain or like water flowing from a spring of light. Then all of a sudden she subsides into the calyx of the heart, and her form merges into the formless Shakti. Although she is called Shakti, she is still in the form of gas (Vayu). At that time one is not aware of the Nada, or the Bindu or of the Kalajyoti. Then the conquest of mind, the support of breath-control and resort to meditation do not survive, and though and its absence come to a stop. So she is the crucible in which the gross elements crubmle (286-290). That the body should be swallowed by the body is the Natha creed and and its purport is disclosed here by Lord Krishna, the incarnation of Vishnu. Untying the bundle of that purport and unfolding the truth, I have presented it before you, who are its clients.

·  By applying himself thus constantly the self-controlled Yogi attains peace consisting of infnite bliss, that abides in Me.

Arjuna, when the Shakti loses her power, the body becomes bereft of form and becomes invisible to the world. But then the body looks like a banana tree which, shedding its outer skin, stands bare in its core or like the sky which has put forth limbs (291-295). When the body assumes this form, the yogi is called the sky-rover. When he attains to his state, his body works wonders in the world. When he walkes leaving a trail behind him, then the eight miraculous powers wait upon him at every step. But of what avail are these powers to us? O Arjuna, the elements of earth, water and fire get dissolved in the body. the earth is dissolved by water, water by fire, and the wind dissolves the fire in the heart. Then the wind alone remains, but in the form of the body; and that too becomes absorbed in the sky of the Brahmarandhra (296-300). She retains her shakti form until she becomes one with Brahman.

Now she is not known as Kundalini, but takes on the name 'aerial' (maruta). Then leaving the jalandhara bandha and breaking open the end of the sushumna nadi she enters the cidakasha of Brahmarandhra. Placing her foot on the back of Omkara, she then crosses the second stage of speech known as pashyanti. Then she pierces the half crescent matra of Om and enters the cidakasha, as the river enters the sea. Making herself steady in the Brahmarandhra with the conviction that 'I am Brahman there. then with the destruction of the veil of the five great elements results the union of Shiva and Shakti. And she along with the cidakasha becomes merged in the blilss of Brahman, just as the sea water being transformed into clouds (by the process of enaporation) and the clouds pouring down into the rivers, ultimately rejoin the sea, in the same way the embodied self, by means of the human body, enters the abode of Brahman and becomes united with it.

At this stage all doubt or discussion whether there is duality or unity comes to an end. When a person experiences this state in which the cidakasha becomes merged in akasha, he becomes one with it (306-310). This state cannot possibly be experessed in words so that it can be explained in conversation. O Arjuna, even Vaikhai, the fourth form of speech which boasts of its power of expressing a thought remains mute in this case. Even the makara, (the third syllable of Om) finds it difficult to enter the region behind the eyebrows. Similarly, the vital breath prana experiences difficult to enter the region behind the eyebrows. Similarly, the vital breath prana experiences difficulty in entering the cidaksha. When it gets merged in the cidakash, the expressive power of words comes to an end, and then even the akasha becomes attenuated, so that one finds it difficult to trace it in thedeep waters of the unmanifest state of the Absolute. Of what avail are words then? (311-315). This state cannot be certainly brought within the scope of words or of hearing: this is the absolute truth. If fortune favours a person and he cares to experience it, he becomes one with it. Then nothing remains to be known, O archer, and any further talk about it would be fruitless. It is a state from which words turn back, in which desire ends and which is beyond paleof thought. This is the beautiful state of mental obsorbtion, the youthful state of samadhi in which the yogi becomes one with Brahman.It is beginningless and unfathmable (316-320). It is the orgin of the universe, the fruit of the Yoga-tree and the very sentience of bliss. It is that in which the state of emancipation, all beginning and end get merged. This Brahman is the orgin of the five great elements, the light of light, in short, o partha, it is my own essence. When the non-believers persecuted the band of my devotees, I became incartnate and assumed the beautiful human form with four arms. In order to attain the indescribable bliss of this form men strove creaselessly and became full of bliss (321-325). Those who practised this method of Yoga described by me became purified and achieved a capability equal to mine. There bodies appear brilliant, as if they are fashioned out of the essence of the supreme spirit, cast in the mould of the human form. Once such experience illumines the mind, the entire world of appearance vanishes.

Wolf and Lamb

"He will deserve the name of man and will be able to count on that prepared for him from on High, only if he will have known how to acquire the gifts necessary to conserve unharmed both the wolf and the lamb that have been entrusted to him"- Gurdjieff

"Evil is Unbalanced forced. Unbalanced force is Evil"


We need to use the energy and potency of our lower selves and balance their momentum with the sense of submission and service of the lamb in us

Gurdjieff Narcotics Black and White Magic

news and reviews of G. I. Gurdjieff’s teaching, books, conferences; see Joseph Azize page and John Robert Colombo page

A PERSIAN SOURCE OF GURDJIEFF’S TEACHING?

June 22, 2008

E. J. PACE Dierctor of the Missionary Course at the Moody Bible Institute c 1919

This book on ‘The Law of Octaves’ is a print version of lectures given by Dr Pace in the USA from material that he writes comes from the Rev. John N. Wright DD of Wooster Ohio, who served for thirty-two years as a Presbyterian missionary in Persia at the end of the nineteenth century. Dr Pace had been lecturing on this for some years before publication in 1922.
Thus this material was being written down at a time earlier than that of Gurdjieff’s first appearance in Russia.
This is an astonishing collection of diagrams many which have a likeness to the diagrams that Ouspensky brought from Gurdjieff’s teaching, but which have come from a different source.
To see this material copy and paste this link
http://paceart.tripod.com/index/id8.html
The website is worth looking at for those with a Gurdjieffian interest and a necessity for the Gurdjieff scholar. I am indebted to a reader of this blog who kindly sent this link to Joseph Azize who has sent it to us.

Posted by ccwe
Filed in BOOK & FILM REVIEWS
Tags: Joseph Azize, Moody Bible Institute, Persia, REv EArnest James Pace DD, REvl John N. Wright DD, Sophia Wellbeloved, source Gurdjieff;s teaching

Comments Off

GURDJIEFF AS MAGUS OMISSIONS AND REDEFINITIONS OF THE WORK

June 16, 2008

The College of Charleston
This paper given by Sophia Wellbeloved at the Association for the Study of Esotericism’s
Third International Conference at the College of Charleston, South Carolina in June 2008, is one of five papers given relating to Gurdjieff. The others were given by Michael Pittman, Joseph Azize, Richard Smoley and Jon Woodson, to see the full program copy and paste this link:
http://www.cofc.edu/ase//program.html to see the full programme.

‘Gurdjieff as Magus’ looks at G. I. Gurdjieff (1866?-1949) in his role as a magus. He taught pupils the acquisition of will, use of symbolism, inter-relationship of macrocosmos to microcosmos and a manipulation of cosmic laws so as to form a set of new bodies of ever finer materiality and longevity. It shows the centrality of hypnotism to his teaching about consciousness and how hypnotic techniques function in his texts and oral teachings. Gurdjieff used the imagery of black and white magic and reflects the roles of both black and white magician, using alcohol, drugs and intense pressures to entangle pupils usually for short periods of time. Lastly we will look at how the teaching has become institutionalised, necessitating omissions and redefinitions of both Gurdjieff and the Work.
Gurdjieff as Magus: Omissions and Redefinitions of the Work
Gurdjieff is not an easy man to define, and we are not going to attempt to impose a fixed definition of him here. What we are going to look at is:
1.
How he presented himself in his writings
2.
How he presented himself to his pupils in his oral teachings
3.
Present day omissions and redefinitions of the Work
—————————
1.
Gurdjieff as Hypnotist
Gurdjieff was known as a hypnotist who cared for and cured drink and drug dependency and other conditions, a role which he regarded as separate from his role as a teacher and which he continued throughout his life, (Peters 1977: 214, 220-223. Webb: 1980, 473).
Now we will look at how Gurdjieff presented himself in his texts in relation to hypnotism. You can see below the full titles and the abbreviations I am going to use when I refer to the texts
————————————–
GURDJIEFF’S TEXTS
HERALD
The Herald of Coming Good, privately published Paris, 1933
TALES
First series: An Objectively Impartial Criticism of the Life of Man or Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson, London: Routledge & Keegan Paul, 1950
MEETINGS
Second series: Meetings With Remarkable Men, trans. A. R. Orage, Londond: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1963
LIFE
Third series: Life is real only then, when “I am”, New York: Duton for Triangle Editions, 1975
———————————————-
In all these writings Gurdjieff refers to hypnotism; in the Tales, the two central chapters are devoted to the practice of hypnotism, in these Gurdjieff’s life story merges with that of his hero Beelzebub. Mesmer is perhaps the only historical person mentioned in the Tales who is not vilified by Beelzebub (Tales: 561-2). In the other three ‘autobiographical’ works he gives examples of practicing hypnotism himself (Meetings: 197-98, Life: 25, Herald: 11-13, see also Wellbeloved 2003:100-02). Herald focuses almost exclusively on his study of hypnotism and other occult practises.
Gurdjieff’s represents hypnotism in both passive and active functions
————————————————–
WAKING (hypnotic) SLEEP
(our usual waking state)
HYPNOTISM(can function passively or actively)
SUBCONSCIOUS
(usually inaccessible to us but made accessible by hypnosis )
———————————————–
We can relate hypnotism to the central tenet of Gurdjieff’s teaching. He taught that what we usually regard as being our daily waking state is in fact a state of sleep. Not ordinary sleep but hypnotic sleep.
In brief summary: our ‘true’ consciousness resides in what he terms the ‘subconscious’ which we are usually unable to contact. As a result of this division in our consciousness, he says that, as we are, we cannot ‘do’, our actions are merely mechanical reactions.
In Chapter XXXII of the Tales Beelzebub explains that hypnotism is the means of linking these two states of being. It can be used to act on these separated consciousnesses in different ways, for example, it can put the usual waking state, where the personality functions to sleep so that the subconscious which contains the essence can function. The advantage of doing that is that according to the teaching essence can grow and develop while the personality is a prison in which we respond mechanically to what ever happens.
So we can see that a passive experience of hypnotism, being hypnotised by events or surroundings, may function to trap us in ‘waking sleep’, while an active hypnotism, may liberate us from waking sleep and give us access to our subconscious.
Hypnotism in Gurdjieff’s terminology is thus ‘a stick with two ends.’
——————-
Here I want to look at Gurdjieff’s four texts in relation to his law of three which expresses two possible outcomes for the interaction of negative and positive forces. Hypnotism is the third force that can reconcile these forces in an evolutionary/positive way, or in a devolutionary/negative way.
The diagram below show how Gurdjieff’s texts embody his law of three.
————————————
+ LIFE
Results from reconciliation in an evolutionary/upwards direction
- TALES Hypnotism is the third force capable of reconciling positive and negative forces + MEETINGS
- HERALD
Results from reconciliation in devolutionary/downwards direction
——————————————————-
We can regard each text as representing a positive or negative force according to Gurdjieff’s own intention for the books stated in the following way:
The Tales – functions as a negative force intended to destroy the reader’s beliefs and views
Meetings – functions as a positive force – because it is to provide the reader with good material for a new creation.
Life – functions as a result of an evolutionary reconciling force – because it is to help the reader realise the world existing in reality rather than in his fantasy.
Herald – functions as the result of a devolutionary reconciling force, this is the book that Gurdjieff withdrew or ‘exiled’.
In the two books which show how the positive and negative are resolved Gurdjieff presents himself as a predominantly wise white magician in Life, and the personification of a psychotic, black magician in Herald.
Gurdjieff instructed his pupils not to read Herald, but writes in Life, that we ought not to read it. This is not a convincing strategy for someone who wants his book to be ignored. Herald shows the chaotic state of a devolutionary descent in to madness, and it is necessary to include it in order to show the full expression of his law of three.
Gurdjieff employed hypnotic techniques in all these texts. Some of these are defined by Dr Joseph A. Sandford a psychologist and clinical hypnotheapist with Gurdjieffian interests and professionally trained in the hypnosis methodology of Milton H. Erickson. Sandford gives some examples of the hypnotic techniques that are used by both men: ‘story telling, metaphor, indirect suggestion, confusion techniques and implied directives, and shocks (Gnosis through Hypnosis: the Role of Trance in Personal Transformation, Proceedings of the All & Everything Humantities Conference,2005, privately published. See also (Runyon, Carroll, Magick and Hypnosis). http://nightbreed.tribe.net/thread/33226a91-c71c-49f4-90dd-dd1f0c997091 ‘<em>Ceremonial magic is ritual hypnosis’).
Gurdjieff himself said that breaking the connection between the emotional and mental centres will cause a person to become hallucinated (Gurdjieff, 1976: 263, 192), ‘Centres are without critical faculty … when a person looks with one centre only, he is under hallucination’). All his texts are intentionally confusing: misleading, contradictory, and paradoxical, he defined himself as:
‘unique in respect of the so to say “muddling and befuddling” of all the notions and convictions supposedly firmly fixed in the entirety of people with whom I come into contact.” (Tales, 26).
2.
Now we will look at how Gurdjieff presented himself to his pupils.
Gurdjieff’s teaching emphasised specific methodologies according to where he was and what was happening, but the content of the teaching remained the same in all periods. Here, because of time constraints, we will look at two periods indicated in the chronology below.
—————————————————
G. I. GURDJIEFF 1866? – 1949
1866? Born Alexandropol, Armenia, (now Gyumri)
1885?- 1910? Undocumented travels to Middle and Far East
1910? – 1917 In Russia teaching: P. D. Ouspensky meets Gurdjieff
records teaching from 1915 – 1922
In Search of the Miraculous (Search) Ouspensky 1949
1917 – 1922 From Russia to Europe with pupils
1922 France: Gurdjieff founds The Institute for the Harmonious
Development of Man outside Paris,
fully functional until 1924
1924 -1930 Visits USA begins writing. Closes the Institute but
continues to live there. Will visit the USA a further
nine or ten times.
1932 lives in Paris
1935 – 1940 Paris teaching the Rope group [and others].
1940-1945 Teaching groups in his flat in Paris
1945 Gurdjieff continued teaching pupils until his death in
1949.
———————————————————

P. D. Ouspensky
1915-1922
During this time Ouspensky records Gurdjieff’s teaching pupils: the acquisition of will, the use of symbolism, the inter-relationship of macrocosmos to microcosmos and a manipulation of cosmic laws so as to form a set of new bodies of ever finer materiality and longevity. Gurdjieff expressed his teachings with reference to alchemical processes, (Search,176, 180), transmutation and transformation (Search,193), and in relation to the symbologies of astrology, magic and tarot, among others (Search, 278-295) and Webb, (The Harmonious Circle 1980, 499-525) gives a good account of some of the likely western esoteric origins of Gurdjieff’s teaching (Webb, 1980, 499-525).
Many if not most of Gurdjieff’s pupils had some knowledge of Theosophical ideas, so his cosmology, ideas about the formation of different bodies would have been familiar to them. What Gurdjieff offered pupils that differed from Blavatksy’s Theosophical teaching was an occult practice that would enable them to transform themselves, not just a theory about different bodies but methods for creating them. This brings Gurdjieff’s teaching into the realm of magic (Versluis, Arthur, 2007: 1. ‘Magicians seek direct spiritual insight and use it to affect the course of events’, and 4. ‘the Magus seeks to have effects in the world’.)
Gurdjieff defines magicians as men who understand the laws of nature and know how to use them to transform substances and also to oppose mechanical influences, and this is not a bad summary of what Gurdjieff himself taught. He gives Christ as an example of a magician who had this knowledge (Search: 226-7, see also (Views 1976/ 1st pub 1973 in a talk in Essentuki in 1918). Gurdjieff’s definitions of both black and white magicians are inconsistent and confusing (Search: 227). He does say that ‘Black magic does not in any way mean magic of evil’ and this is representative of a theme he returns to throughout his teaching. The pupils who took part in his revue ‘Struggle of the Magicians’, had to dance the roles of both black and white magicians.
Gurdjieff agrees with Ouspensky that narcotics are used for the creation of states that make magic possible, but says that they are not merely narcotics although substances used may be prepared form opium or hashish (Search: 8-9 see also 162, 195).
There is a short paper on Narcotics and Hormones by G. I. Gurdjieff, ‘evidently taken down by Ouspensky’. Here Gurdjieff relates some of the uses of narcotics including as a help in ‘the work of Self-Observation and self study,’ he stresses that the use of narcotics is dangerous and needs to be carried out by an expert.
In 1959 the Stourton Press in Cape Town published a short paper Narcotics and Hormones by G. I. Gurdjieff, ‘evidently taken down by Ouspensky’, some of the material is in his In Search of the Miraculous. Republished in Unforgotten Fragments, Pogson, Beryl Chassereau, and Lewis Creed, 1994. Gurdjieff states that narcotics can be used to change the state of consciousness. He refers to medieval literature as a rich source on the subject. He defines hormones as ‘clouds of fine matter, finer than the gaseous matter known to us which is given off by various organs of our body. The 1920s and 1930s were a time of great interest and medical research into hormones. In 1922 insulin was first used to treat diabetes, (see also http://www.uwyo.edu/wjm/Repro/classica.htm) There are references to opium in the Tales including an complex passage pages 826-40 detailing research into the properties of opium).
———————————————–

Solita Solano
1935 -1939/40
Gurdjieff was teaching’ the Rope’ a group of women pupils in Paris, seeing them once or twice every day. According to Gurdjieff’s pupil J. G Bennett this group progressed at a much faster rate than earlier pupils, Bennett attributed this to the use of drugs (Bennett 1976: 232), Bennett writes that Gurdjieff carried out ‘a very extraordinary experiment, making use of methods that brought them into remarkable psychic states, and developed their powers far more rapidly’ than those of earlier pupils. He saw memoirs but is not allowed to quote from them, he hopes they will be published as they throw light on Gurdjieff’s methods as a teacher and upon ‘his use of drugs as a method of developing not only psychic experiences, but also opening hidden channels of the human psyche’. Although he was castigated for making this suggestion, there are diary entries concerning courses of injections, which Gurdjieff himself gave to the pupils, recorded in:
‘Notes taken by Solita Solano from October 1935 – April 1939 in Paris, with additional notes about Gurdjieff’s visit to New York in 1948
(Janet Flanner and Solita Solano Papers, Library of Congress, folder 6 box 6).
There are twenty-three direct references to piqures (injections) and courses of injections that Gurdjieff gave Solano and other members of the Rope group. He gave inner exercises for them to do related to the injections.
Solano quotes Gurdjieff saying:
‘After a certain age this effort [his teaching] is very difficult and often impossible. There is an artificial aid by means of physico-chemical substance… for example a substance can be injected which will furnish artificial help for prayer … If the effort and the amount of the chemical are not balanced, it becomes a dangerous poison for the organism.’ (In January, 1936, p. 18).
He had already given her ‘My first piqure and my first exercise’ (16th November 1935).
These notes are greatly abridged and there is no mention of the actual substances he was injecting, but he did take blood and urine samples from the group to check what adjustments to make to their medications. The exercises are not give in the Notes, and the results of the injections are not referred to in detail, Solano reports feeling better after the first course. Later the group are strongly affected by the injections, two of them cry and feel suicidal, Solano fears loosing her memory. Another time she asks about an increase in menstruation which Gurdjieff attributes to the injections this last suggests injections of hormones (Notes 39-40).
The group also take other medicines given them by Gurdjieff (Notes July 18, 1936, 42-43).
There are references to magic, in the first (June 18th 1936) Gurdjieff refers to ‘the mag’, Solano writes in brackets after mag ( magus, adept, master) and says that
The mag (magus, adept, master) is cunning.
… The mag is the highest that man can approach to God because only he can be impartial and fulfil obligation to God. In old times the mag was always made the chief because he had cunning. Other mags could do either white or black magic but the mag who had cunning and canning could do both white and black and was the chief of the Initiates. Man with real cunning is man without quotation marks. Angel can do only one thing. Devil can do all.’ (July 18th 1936, Notes, 42-43).
A month later he says: “Both cunning and canning are necessary to all things. This is why there are two magics. Black magic is cunning – often also is cunning and canness – you understand the difference? Black magic is ideal for being. Cunning and can-ness is like conscious and unconscious, or like two words used in Bible for meaning two kinds of evil voluntary and involuntary sin”.

crowley gnostic mass

The Temple

There are four main pieces of furniture in a Gnostic Mass temple:
The High Altar: the dimensions are 7 feet (2.1 m) long by 3 feet (0.91 m) wide by 44 inches (1,100 mm) high. It is covered with a crimson cloth. It is situated in the East, or in the direction of Boleskine House--Crowley's former estate—on the shores of Loch Ness in Scotland ("Temple East"). The two-tiered super-altar sits on top of the High Altar. It all holds 22 candles, the Stele of Revealing, the Book of the Law, the Cup, and two bunches of roses. There is room for the Paten, and the Priestess to sit.
The High Altar is contained within a great Veil, and sits on a dais with three steps. On either side of the High Altar are two pillars, countercharged in black and white.
The Altar of Incense: to the West of the Dais is a black altar made of superimposed cubes.
The Font: this is a small circular item which is able to contain or hold water.
The Tomb: this is generally a small, enclosing space with an entrance that is covered by a veil. It should be big enough to hold the Priest, Deacon and the two Children.

[edit] Structure

There are six component ceremonies within the Gnostic Mass:

[edit] The Ceremony of the Introit

The congregation enters the temple, the Deacon presents the Law of Thelema, and the Gnostic Creed is recited. The Priestess and the Children enter from a side room. The Priestess raises the Priest from his Tomb, then purifies, consecrates, robes and crowns him.

[edit] The Ceremony of the Rending of the Veil

The Priestess is enthroned at the High Altar and the veil is closed. The Priest circumambulates the temple and he ascends to the veil. The officers give their orations, including the Calendar by the Deacon. The Priest then opens the veil and kneels at the High Altar.

[edit] The Collects

Eleven prayers addressed to the Sun, Moon, Lord, Lady, Gnostic Saints, Earth, Principles, Birth, Marriage, Death, and The End.

[edit] The Consecration of the Elements

The preparation of the Eucharist.

[edit] The Anthem

Of the Anthem, Crowley writes in Confessions:

During this period [i.e. around 1913] the full interpretation of the central mystery of freemasonry became clear in consciousness, and I expressed it in dramatic form in The Ship. The lyrical climax is in some respects my supreme achievement in invocation; in fact, the chorus beginning: “Thou who art I beyond all I am...” seemed to me worthy to be introduced as the anthem into the Ritual of the Gnostic Catholic Church.

[edit] The Mystic Marriage and Consummation of the Elements

The Eucharist is perfected and consumed. The Priest gives the final benediction. The Priest, Deacon, and Children exit. The People exit.

[edit] The narrative of the Gnostic Mass ^[2]

The People enter into the ritual space, where the Deacon stands at the Altar of Incense (symbolic of Tiphareth on the Tree of Life). She takes the Book of the Law and places it on the super-altar within the great Veil, and proclaims the Law of Thelema in the name of IAO. Returning, she leads the People in the Gnostic Creed, which announces a belief (or value) in the Lord, the Sun, Chaos, Air, Babalon, Baphomet, the Gnostic Catholic Church, the communion of Saints, the Miracle of the Mass (i.e. the Eucharist), as well as confessions of their birth as incarnate beings and the eternal cycle of their individual lives.
The Virgin then enters with the two Children, and greets the People. She moves in a serpentine manner around the Altar of Incense and the Font (symbolizing the unwinding of the Kundalini Serpent which is twined around the base of the spine) before stopping at the Tomb. She tears down the veil with her Sword, and raises the Priest to life by the power of Iron, the Sun, and the Lord. He is lustrated and consecrated with the four elements (water and earth, fire and air), and then invested with his scarlet Robe and crowned with the golden Uraeus serpent of wisdom. Finally, she gently strokes his Lance eleven times, invoking the Lord.
The Priest lifts up the Virgin and takes her to the High Altar, seating her upon the summit of the Earth. After he purifies and consecrates her, he closes the Veil and circumambulates the temple three times, followed by the remaining officers. They take their place before the Altar of Incense, kneeling in adoration (along with all the People), while the Priest takes the first step upon the Dais before the Veil. In this symbolic crossing of the Abyss, the Priest begins with his first oration, invoking Nuit, the goddess of the infinite night sky. The Priestess calls to him as Nuit, enticing the Priest to ascend to her. He then takes the second step, and identifies as Hadit, the infinitely condensed center of all things — the Fire of every star and the Life in every person. The Deacon has the congregation rise and he delivers the Calendar. The Priest takes his third and final step, invoking Ra-Hoor-Khuit, the Crowned and Conquering Child of the New Aeon. With his Lance, he parts the Veil, revealing the now-naked Priestess who sits upon the High Altar. He greets her with the masculine powers of Pan and she returns it with eleven kisses on the Lance. He kneels in adoration.
The Deacon then recites the eleven Collects, which include the Sun, Moon, Lord, Lady, Saints, Earth, Principles, Birth, Marriage, Death, and the End.
The Elements are then consecrated by the Virtue of the Lance, transforming the bread into the Body of God and the wine into the Blood of God. Of these, the Priest makes a symbolic offering to On, being our Lord the Sun.
The Priest and all the People then recite the Anthem, which was taken from Crowley’s allegorical play "The Ship", and represents the legend of the Third Degree of Masonry.
The Priest blesses the Elements in the name of the Lord, and also states the essential function of the entire operation, which is to bestow health, wealth, strength, joy, peace, and the perpetual happiness that is the successful fulfillment of will. He breaks off a piece of one of the hosts, and, placing it on the tip of the Lance, both he and the Priestess depress it into the Cup, crying “Hriliu” (which Crowley translated as “the shrill scream of orgasm”).
The Priest entreats Baphomet — "O Lion and O Serpent" — to be “mighty among us.” He then declares the Law of Thelema to the People - "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law" - who return with “Love is the law, love under will.” He finally partakes of the Eucharist with the words, “In my mouth be the essence of the life of the Sun” (with the Host) and “In my mouth be the essence of the joy of the earth” (with the Wine). He turns to the People and declares, “There is no part of me that is not of the Gods.”
The People then follow in Communication, one at a time, much as the Priest did, by partaking of a whole goblet of wine and a Cake of Light. They make the same proclamation of godhood as did the Priest. Afterwards, the Priest encloses the Priestess within the Veil, and delivers the final benediction:

+ The LORD bless you.

+ The LORD enlighten your minds and comfort your hearts and sustain your bodies.

+ The LORD bring you to the accomplishment of your true Wills, the Great Work, the Summum Bonum, True Wisdom and Perfect Happiness.