ecosophia | An Etheric Exercise

book cover I don't know if this is true for other people, but whenever I work on a research project involving occultism, I start fielding those odd bursts of improbable coincidence that Carl Jung called "synchronicities." One of those landed the other day, courtesy of the IAPSOP archive of old occult texts.

For years now one of my core research projects has been tracking down the traces of a lost tradition which surfaces in certain surprising places -- the writings of earth-mysteries doyen John Michell, the teachings of certain branches of the Druid Revival tradition, a handful of old books on animal magnetism, and more. The tradition, if I understand it correctly, works with two sources of energy: one assoclated with terrestrial magnetism, the other associated with solar radiation. It might best be understood as a form of energetic alchemy, because these two currents are fused in a variety of vessels -- especially but not only in the human organism -- to create a third force that can be used in various ways. Created in the human organism, it gives rise to wisdom, revelation, and enlightenment; created in the land, by way of certain structures of stone and earth, it gives rise to agricultural fertility; it has other uses, not all of which I'm prepared to discuss.

There were exercises meant to connect with those energies. I've found references to some of them, and included them in certain books of mine; I've also adapted other workings to do the same thing. But I wasn't expecting one of the exercises to show up in a pamphlet by a Spiritualist medium.

Abby A. Judson was once a tolerably well-known figure in the Spiritualist circuit. In 1888, she learned a certain simple set of exercises from one Dr. H.W. Abbott, whom I haven't yet been able to trace. Abbott claimed he'd been taught them by the spirit of a king of Atlantis named Osseweago; given the role of upstate New York as a hotbed of early American occultism, I suspect that the good doctor was having fun at Ms. Judson's expense. The exercises, as Judson notes in her book The Bridge Between Two Worlds, is primarily meant to bring the practitioner into contact with benevolent spiritual currents and chase off negative energies; she recommends it to mediums because it keeps noxious entities at bay.

I've done some experimenting with the exercises and modified them slightly; you can find Judson's original version via the two links above. Here's my current version:

1. Stand facing north. Turn counterclockwise three and a half times, arms extended out to the sides, palms down, concentrating on the idea that unwanted energies are being thrown off as you turn. End facing south.

2. Bring your heels together, shift your weight onto the balls of your feet, extend your arms to the south, spread your fingers slightly, bow your head and close your eyes. Imagine that you are being permeated with the magnetic energies of the earth.

3. Turn clockwise to face the north. Then raise your arms up and out above your head and look up. Turn very slowly clockwise once around, while imagining life and blessing descending to you from the sun. You can say a prayer or spoken invocation as you do this.

4. Extend your arms to your sides, palms down, and turn clockwise four and a half times, concentrating on the idea that you are wrapping yourself and your aura in the positive energies you have invoked. End facing south,.

5. Sweep your "positive hand" -- this is usually the hand you write with -- palm down a few inches above the palm and forearm of your negative hand, which is held palm up. Do this three times, sweeping the hand from wrist to fingertips. Then reverse, and sweep off the positive hand with the negative hand.

Five Rites

These stages are, respectively: (1) throwing off inharmonious magnetism; (2) blending with the magnetism of the earth; (3) calling down beneficent influences from above; (4) gathering up and charging the aura; (5) sealing the aura. Yes, by the way, the possibility that these exercises might fit somewhere into the prehistory of Peter Kelder's Five Rites has occurred to me.

Note 1: Judson, like many writers of her time, uses the word "magnetism" to refer to what Mesmer called "animal magnetism," Reichenbach called "od," etc., etc., etc. It's not the force that comes from physical magnets.

Note 2: To make sense of "clockwise" and "counterclockwise," by the way, imagine yourself looking down at a giant clock face on the ground just beneath your feet. The way the hands move on that clock face is "clockwise" in terms of this exercise.

My experiments with this exercise suggest that it functions as a banishing ritual, but it works primarily on the etheric level, where most banishing rituals work primarily on the astral. Judson suggests doing it first thing in the morning and then again at night; I've tried this with good results, and it does not seem to conflict in any way with the Sphere of Protection.

If anyone else feels inspired to give this a try, I'd welcome feedback. It seems to be a very simple and effective way of cleansing the aura of etheric gunk and charging it with cleaner energies; if it also does this for other people, I plan on getting it into wider circulation. Thank you in advance for your help!

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From:

sea_spray

Hi JMG

I would guess that the effectiveness or alterations necessary, if any, for the southern hemisphere have not been worked out yet. Do you have any advice for testing it in the southern hemisphere? Would it be wise to do as written for a little bit then alter aspects a point at a time, see what happens with each alteration, then go back to the original for a little to compare?

Thanks for all you hard work.

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An Etheric Exercise

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