Living Franz Bardon

I was asked today how I first got started studying Zen. If you haven't read my book The Gift to be Simple , I mention Zen several times in it. To be honest, I don't actually remember how I first got started studying Zen, so I can't explain that. But what I can explain is why I've continued to study Zen through the years, even after abandoning my studies of Qabalah, Huna, and other traditions I also studied at some point. The reason is that the substance and essence of Zen, from my point of view, is mindfulness. It is an entire tradition dedicated to mastering, exploring, and applying mindfulness. Some people might say that considering mindfulness to be the be-all and end-all of Zen shows that I have a limited view of Zen, but I'd say those people have a limited view of mindfulness. In his book The Rinzai Zen Way , Meido Moore states that mindfulness is enlightenment itself. If you read my writings, you'll find that I frequently encourage people to take mindfulne...

Many of the Bardonists who contact me struggle with VOM, the fourth mental exercise of Step 1. For someone who is ready to practice VOM, this shouldn’t ever happen. The key to becoming proficient at VOM is proficiency at thought-observation, which is the first mental exercise of Step 1, so whether or not someone is ready to practice VOM depends on whether or not they are proficient at thought-observation. Two things happen when you attain proficiency at thought-observation. The first thing that happens is that you become better at noticing the gaps between the thoughts passing through your mind. This is obvious. When you observe the train of your thoughts, you are not just observing your thoughts, but also the gaps between your thoughts, so of course you get better at noticing those gaps. The second thing that happens is that the gaps between your thoughts grow sider. Consider the following comments about thought-observation from Rawn Clark’s book A Bardon Companion . With Step ...

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 twel...

Roughly four centuries ago, the renowned Kabbalist Moses Cordovero wrote and published the book Tomer Devorah , which is a guide to divinizing oneself by cultivating the same virtues that God possesses. In this book, Cordovero states that those seeking to divinize themselves in this manner "should constantly pray for mercy and blessing for the world just as the Supernal Father has mercy on all His creatures." He also states that they "should constantly pray for the alleviation of suffering as if those who suffer were actually his children and as if he had created them." If you live in the United States, as I do, you are probably aware that there are massive wildfires burning in California and Oregon right now. Many people living in these areas are greatly in need of God's mercy. I encourage you to take some time to pray for them. This can be done very easily. For a few minutes, fix your attention upon God and continuously repeat the following prayer: "Lord,...

Today while surfing the web, I came across this video of a guy accidentally setting his wife on fire because he was playing around with a lighter while pumping gas. I think we can all agree that playing around with a lighter while pumping gas is an unwise thing to do.  I have another book coming out through Falcon Books Publishing soon. It's called A Tiara of Pearls , and wisdom is one of the book's major themes. Wisdom has always been of immense interest to me. It's also something that Bardon considered very important. The word "wisdom" appears thirty times in IIH, fifty-five times in PME, and forty-five times in KTQ. Bardon considered wisdom a sign of magical progress and one of the true magician's most valuable assets. For me, however, the effort to acquire wisdom isn't just about becoming a better magician. It's also about not doing stupid things that ruin your life and hurt others. The guy in the previously-linked video was arrested and may face ...

Recently, I came across an article purporting to be about Christian magic, but that is most certainly not about Christian magic. It seems that many people confuse Christianity-themed magic with Christian magic, and for this reason I thought I'd write a post discussing the difference. Christian magic and Christianity-themed magic are not connected in any way. Whether magic is Christian is independent of whether it is Christianity-themed, and whether magic is Christianity-themed is independent of whether it is Christian. Sometimes, you see methods of cursing others that incorporate the psalms. This can be considered Christianity-themed magic, since it makes use of a part of the Bible. However, this is not Christian magic. Jesus said quite clearly that we should love God and love our neighbors. This is Christianity. It is love. Are curses an expression of love? No. It does not matter how many Bible verses you incorporate into the curse, or how many saints and archangels you call upon ...

If you are a regular reader of my writings, you are probably aware that an essay of mine was recently published on the Falcon Books Publishing website. This essay, which criticizes homophobia, was shared by Tanya Robinson, the founder of Falcon Books Publishing, on several Facebook groups. From what I’ve been told, it seems like it caused a bit of a stir. As of now, I myself am not active on Facebook and was unable to see firsthand the reaction my essay evoked. However, Tanya was kind enough to summarize for me the most common remarks people made in their comments.  I think this discussion about homophobia is an important one to have, and in an ideal world I would have enough time on my hands to address each of the remarks, varied as they are. Unfortunately, we do not live in an ideal world and my time is very limited. That said, there is one particular remark I just had to respond to, simply because I find it extremely odd. According to some people, it was pointless for me to wri...