High Magick: A Guide to the Spiritual Practices That Saved My Life on Death Row - Damien Echols 2018
The Middle Pillar
Fundamental Practices of Magick
THE MIDDLE PILLAR
This chapter is devoted to one of the most important rituals practiced by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. As I mentioned in the previous interlude, beginners in the Outer Order were expected to devote themselves to the Middle Pillar before moving on to more advanced forms of practical magick. Apprentices were instructed to practice the Middle Pillar (as well as the Lesser Banishing Ritual) at least once a day in order to master the basics of energy manipulation — the real heart and soul of practical magick.
At first, these exercises can feel overly complicated and daunting. That’s normal. With a little practice, however, the Middle Pillar will become second nature to you, and you’ll understand just how simple magick really is. One of the main results of practicing the Middle Pillar is that you become aware through firsthand experience that energy surrounds and interpenetrates all of us. First you learn to detect this energy, then you learn how to influence it in order to bring about change.
The more energy we can channel, the more powerful our magick.
The Middle Pillar will teach you how to strengthen and repair your aura. When most people think of the word aura, they envision a static, egg-shaped sphere of colored energy that circles the body. Contrary to this image, the aura is constantly changing, moving, and flowing. This dynamic process is determined in large part by the energy centers in our bodies. You might be familiar with the chakra system of some Eastern traditions, and the version I’m presenting here is similar to that, but a little different. For example, there are only five energy centers in this system (as opposed to the traditional seven), and they entail different locations, colors, and mantras.
Don’t get too hung up about how energy systems are presented differently. No one system is “right” in some overriding sense, because different traditions have their own aims and purposes. One primary difference between Western magick and Eastern traditions entails the ultimate goal of the path. Most Eastern traditions strive for some form of liberation from the Wheel of Life and Death, whereas magicians in the West are not as interested in escaping the physical realm as they are of mastering it — to be able to move in and out of every aspect of reality at will. Some systems see this ability as a primary goal, and some view it as a side effect of ultimate enlightenment. I’m only making the distinction here to note why the following presentation of the energetic body might differ from what you’ve learned before.
Magicians have been using techniques similar to the Middle Pillar for thousands of years. This particular practice bestows all of the expected benefits of meditation in addition to increasing our divine energy and enhancing the health and vitality of our physical body. Additionally, it develops our powers of concentration to the degree that we are able to extend our consciousness beyond the physical plane. Magicians see the source of all creation as perfect, pristine energy. This divine energy vibrates at an incredibly high rate, and the further we are away from it, the slower the energy vibrates. So the goal here is to learn how to vibrate and circulate our energy at the highest rate in order to make ourselves more like the source of creation itself. The higher the vibrational rate, the more divine energy we’re capable of channeling. And the more energy we can channel, the more powerful our magick.
Our bodies have meridians that both send and receive energy. The Middle Pillar helps us activate, clean, and optimize these meridians to make our magick more powerful and to elevate our consciousness. Part of the decline in faculties that comes with the aging process is due to blockages in our energy system, and by practicing the Middle Pillar we keep ourselves more vital. In addition, we eventually reach a point at which external circumstances (particularly people) don’t determine our mood, because by strengthening our aura, we decrease the impact of energy from whatever environment we find ourselves in. In this way, strengthening our energy field is similar to boosting our immune system. It gives us another added level of protection as we move through the world.
When you get right down to it, performing the Middle Pillar requires only three things: visualization, breathing, and vibration. You’ve already been learning and practicing the first two, so I want to say just a little about what I mean by “vibration.” Essentially, there’s a what and how to this part of the practice. As far as the what goes, you’ll be verbalizing mantras that come from Hebrew, just as you’ll do next in chapter 12 with the Qabalistic Cross practice. All of these words or phrases relate to different aspects of divinity, but they also serve to remind you in this practice of your own celestial origin — that you carry within you a spark of the source of all creation. For instance, each of the capital letters in YHVH stands for one of the letters of the name Yehowah, or Jehovah. Here’s a quick translation of what the mantras mean. (The pronunciations of the Hebrew words are included in the Middle Pillar practice instructions.)
Eheieh: I Am
YHVH (Yehowah) Elohim: The Lord God
YHVH (Yehowah) Eloah Va Daath: Of Knowledge and Wisdom
Shaddai El Chai: The Almighty
Adonai Ha Aretz: Lord of the Earth
By vibrating these words, you remind the deepest parts of your psyche that you carry the spiritual DNA of the creator of the universe. You are literally God, albeit sheathed in flesh. So in this practice, when you’re flooding yourself with divine energy, you’re also proclaiming to all dimensions of the universe: I Am the Lord God of Knowledge and Wisdom, the Almighty Lord of the Earth!
The how part of vibrating is quite straightforward. Verbalize these mantras in a way that you feel them vibrate in your chest. You want to feel the power of the words actually shake your body, as opposed to just saying them in your normal speaking voice. You should also pronounce each syllable of a mantra in a monotone, without the usual emphasis or inflection often used in conversation.
And finally, I’ll just say that this practice might feel complicated in the beginning, but it doesn’t stay that way for long. It’s a little longer and more detailed than what you’ve done previously in this book, but after some practice, the Middle Pillar will feel familiar, straightforward, and easy.
PRACTICE ” PERFORMING THE MIDDLE PILLAR RITUAL
1.Stand with your eyes closed, hands at your sides. Relax as much as possible, just noting your breathing for a few moments.
2.Move your attention away from your breath, and visualize that you see a blinding bright light at the very top of the universe. This white light is the source of everything — we all came from it, and it’s where we will all return, one day.
3.As you inhale, visualize a shaft of light descending from that source. It comes all the way down from the top of the universe until it reaches the crown of your head.
4.Now, at the top of your head, the shaft of light forms a sphere of energy. The sphere is perfectly round, about a foot in diameter, and it glows a brilliant white. This is the part of you that has always been, and it’s the part that will always be connected to the Divine.
5.Inhale four times. Watch as the sphere of light grows brighter and brighter. As you inhale, it fills with life force.
6.Next, repeat the following word of power: Eheieh (pronounced eh-hee-yay). Remember to say it in such a way that it vibrates in your body. Repeat “eh-hee-yay” three to five times, each time envisioning the sphere growing more vivid and brilliant.
7.As you exhale, visualize a shaft of light descending from the white sphere around your head down into your throat. At this location, the shaft of light forms another sphere, only this one is pearly gray. This sphere represents the link between your conscious mind and your higher self.
8.Inhale four times, and watch as this gray sphere of energy grows brighter and brighter.
9.Now vibrate the next word of power: YHVH Elohim (yay-ho-wah el-oh-heem). This is another ancient name for the source of all creation. Make sure you vibrate it several times as before, feeling the name resonating deep in your chest.
10.Exhale, and see a shaft of light descending from this sphere in your throat to your chest. About where your heart is, the light makes another sphere that’s gold in color. This sphere resembles the noonday sun right in the center of your chest; it represents your conscious mind.
11.Inhale four times, and see this sphere grow stronger and more intense with each inhalation.
12.Now repeat the next word of power: YHVH Eloah Va Daath (yay-ho-wah el-oh-ah va da-ath). Watch as the golden sphere in your chest grows brighter with every repetition.
13.As you exhale, a shaft of light descends from this sphere down into the middle of your pelvic bowl. The light forms a new sphere that’s purple, and it represents your subconscious mind.
14.Inhale four times as before. Visualize that the purple sphere intensifies and brightens.
15.The fourth word of power is Shaddai El Chai (shad-eye el kai). Vibrate this name and watch the purple sphere grow stronger with each repetition.
16.Exhale and see the shaft of light continue down from the purple sphere. It moves down through your legs until it surrounds your feet. The light forms another sphere — black this time — the top half covering your feet and the lower half going into the earth. This is the sphere that represents your physical body.
17.Inhale four times and watch the black sphere grow brighter.
18.Vibrate the fifth word of power — Adonai Ha Aretz (ah-don-eye ha ah-retz) — and watch as the sphere becomes more vivid and bright with each repetition.
19.Exhale. See the shaft of light continue downward from the black sphere. It goes deep into the center of the earth. There at the middle of our planet, the shaft of light connects to an enormous green sphere of energy that’s almost as large as Earth itself. This is the energy of the earth — what people refer to as Mother Nature.
20.You are now connected to Heaven and Earth. The shaft of light travels through the center of your body like a straw, allowing you to draw upon the energy of the highest levels of divinity, as well as the energy of the material plane. Visualize this as clearly as possible for as long as you wish.
21.When you feel done, clap your hands, open your eyes, and go about your day. Remember that these spheres are always there, glowing brightly, even when you forget about them.
Practice this exercise every day for two weeks before moving on. Work on memorizing both the color for each sphere as well as the word of power associated with each. Once you become this familiar with the version of the Middle Pillar presented above, you’re ready to move to the next practice, which stabilizes your energy and centers your mind.
The Middle Pillar
PRACTICE ” CIRCULATING ENERGY WITH THE MIDDLE PILLAR
This is the next step in the Middle Pillar practice. It’s extremely powerful, and it takes only about five more minutes to complete than the opening version described previously.
1.Follow the steps of the Performing the Middle Pillar practice.
2.When you have reached the final step, continue to visualize the shaft of light and all of the five spheres linked together.
3.Focus now on the black sphere at your feet. Inhale and visualize that the energy shoots upward from this sphere in the form of white light. As it rises through the other spheres, all of the energy stored in these energy centers also shoots upward until it reaches the top of your head.
4.Exhale. A fountain of light travels down the left side of your head, down onto your shoulder, and all the way down your body to your left foot.
5.Inhale, and watch the light travel up from your right leg all the way up your body and face until it comes back to the white sphere of energy at the crown of your head.
6.Continue this pattern, exhaling and inhaling as you visualize the energy circulating in this way. Do about ten cycles of this: exhale as the light moves down your left side; inhale as it travels up your right side.
7.Now you’re going to follow the same pattern, but you’ll move the energy to the front and back of your body. As you exhale, now visualize that the light moves down the front of your body, down beneath your feet, and up the back of your body until it rejoins the white sphere on top of your head.
8.Practice in this way for about ten cycles. If you have more time, feel free to do more.
9.After you have completed these cycles, focus again on the black sphere at your feet. Now you’re going to visualize that the energy spirals upward. Inhale and watch as energy travels from the black sphere, twisting around your legs in a tight spiral. The energy wraps this way around your entire body, as if you are becoming a mummy made of brilliant light.
10.When the light reaches the sphere at the top of your head, it explodes. Now the light showers down all around you and through your body.
11.Perform this spiraling/exploding cycle about ten times.
12.When you are done, clap your hands and allow the visualization to gradually fade from your mind. Know that the energy is still circulating in this way, even when you aren’t consciously aware of it.
13.Open your eyes, and go about your day.
Again, make sure you are familiar with this practice before moving on. I recommend you do the Pillar of Light exercise daily for two to four weeks — enough to become thoroughly grounded in breath work and visualization. By visualizing, we steer the energy that we take in through breathing. Breathing brings in the fuel that powers our magick, but without proper steering the energy is dispersed, and we can’t direct it where we want it to go. After synchronizing your breathing and visualizing with the Middle Pillar, you’re prepared to direct your energy in more powerful ways — ways that will help you bring about certain manifestations on the material plane.