Beware of Verschlimmbesserungen!

Occasionally, you will see occultists try to improve the Bardon system in one way or another. Often, these improvements are Verschlimmbesserungen. 

Many of the Verschlimmbesserungen I've seen pertain to the soul mirror creation exercise. In the original exercise as taught in IIH, Bardon asks the student to place the traits into four categories corresponding to the four elements. As I'm sure you know, astrology is very fashionable in the esoteric world. Some students, for whatever reason, decide to place the traits into twelve categories corresponding to the twelve zodiac signs instead. They think this requires a more detailed analysis of each trait and is therefore an improvement. Actually, it's not an improvement. It's a Verschlimmbesserung. In IIH, you work with the four elements and should have a good understanding of the four elements, which you can attain by contemplating the elements while assigning your personality traits to them. You don't work with the twelve zodiac signs, so there is no need to have a good understanding of them. It is true that each of the zodiac signs corresponds to one of the four elements so you can gain some insight into the four elements by contemplating the zodiac signs, but this is not as effective as contemplating the four elements directly. 

In Step 2, Bardon says that you should strive to be able to hold a visualized image in your mind for five minutes. A few years ago, someone was going around claiming that you should strive to be able to hold a visualized image in your mind for 30 minutes at this stage. I mean, the longer the better, right? Actually, there is such a thing as overtraining, and it's not good. Increasing the standard of mastery from 5 minutes to 30 minutes is another example of a Verschlimmbesserung. 

I've also seen people try to create an IIH 2.0 by tampering with the very structure of the Bardon system in different ways. Remember, for many years Bardon would go out every single evening and evoke the ruling genii of the Earth-zone and the planetary spheres to chat. Clearly, he had attained a level of magical advancement that many modern occultists can't even conceive of. His system isn't perfect, but it is excellent. I don't need a perfect system. I am more than happy with an excellent one. It's better to practice an excellent system than a system with alleged improvements that later turn out to be Verschlimmbesserungen.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

William Mistele's Writings on Saturn

The following is a list of William Mistele's writings on Saturn. 1. Finding Saturn in Yourself 2. Saturn Spirit Evocation 3. The Planetary Spheres This essay has a section discussing each planetary sphere. If you are going on a Saturn date , you only need to print out the section discussing the Sphere of Saturn. 4. The Presence of God, Part II This essay discusses several sephiroth. If you are going on a Saturn date, you only need to print out the section discussing Binah. 5. The Temple of Saturn 6. How to Speak Saturn Please do not print out the entire PDF. If you are going on a Saturn date, Chapters 11, 29, and 30 are the only ones you should print out. 7. A Saturn Meditation and the Idea of a Referee 8. Ten Rules for Spiritual Seekers If you are going on a Saturn date, copy and paste the Binah/Saturn section into a Word document and print just that section out.  9. Ten Rules for Spiritual Beginners This is a book-length manuscript based upon
Read more

How Will the Implosion of the Titan Affect the Bardon Community?

Image
  This is a post I've been meaning to write ever since the Titan imploded, but didn't have the time to do so until now. You may wonder, after reading the title, what the implosion of the Titan has to do with Hermetics. The answer is... a lot actually.  If we examine the reasons the Titan exploded, most of them boil down to Stockton Rush ignoring safety precautions. Any quick glance around the Bardon community, however, will show that a large portion of Bardonists also ignore safety precautions. What do I mean by this? If you read the writings of Bardon, and the writings of adepts like William Mistele and Rawn Clark who have worked through Bardon's system, one thing you'll find is that they warn many times of the dangers of attempting practices you aren't ready for. If you're only on the beginning steps of IIH, don't attempt practices like astral wandering, which are taught at the more advanced steps. If you haven't yet worked through at least the first e
Read more

Five Considerations for Unvaccinated Bardonists

This is a post I've been meaning to write for a while. When I take a look at my reasons for failing to write this post earlier, I find myself with some interesting insights about the negative and weak parts of my personality, the parts reflected in my black soul mirror. In Step 3 of IIH, Bardon mentions that courage is one of the four pillars of Solomon's Temple. I have been aware for a while now of the many deaths resulting from COVID-19, but despite knowing that this is a matter of life or death, I still hesitated for such a long time to write this post. So much for courage! First off, let me be clear that this post is not me telling you to get vaccinated. Every choice you make generates karma. This includes not just every choice to do something, but also every choice to not do something. In his essay "How to Speak Saturn," William Mistele discusses the idea of taking responsibility for your karma. For me, taking responsibility for your karma starts with taking resp
Read more