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ecosophia
As mentioned in an earlier post, I've decided to make the teachings of the Octagon Society, the first of three levels of the Order of Spiritual Alchemy, freely available here. If you didn't read that post, please do so -- it explains what the OSA was and is, summarizes its history, and explains what the teachings are meant to accomplish. You can also find all the earlier OSA posts here. Since the lessons are meant to be done in sequence, if you're just joining us now, please go back to the beginning and start there. The tools you'll need for this work, as explained earlier, are a notebook and a pen, along with patience and privacy. One piece of advice: read the whole lesson from start to finish at least twice before you begin the work. It was quite common for people back in the day to read only part of the lesson, misunderstand it, and either get the instructions scrambled or fly off the handle completely. We are dealing with emotionally difficult issues here, and it's worth taking the time to be sure you understand the instructions.
The papers below will give you plenty to work on. Next week, I'll post the work that will qualify you for the final rank of the Octagon Society, the 8/8.
The Octagon Society
The Seventh Law: The Law of Teaching
Congratulations on your advancement to the rank of 6/8 in the Octagon Society. You've now reached the point in your spiritual-alchemical journey where you'll open yourself to receiving the abundance of the Universe. That abundance is the secret of the Philosopher's Stone. You're now entitled to complete access to the first seven laws: the Law of Acceptance, the Law of Happiness, the Law of Joy, The Law of Peace, The Law of Forgiveness, the Law of Strength, and the Law of Teaching.
You're three-fourths of the way along your Octagon Society journey. You've passed through two of the three Gateways of the Ancients with the Law of Acceptance and the Law of Forgiveness. You've stopped off along the way to examine the way you handle the three basic emotions of Sadness, Fear and Anger. You've also learned how to transmute these feelings into Peace, Joy and Happiness. You've also learned the Law of Strength, the first of two eye-opening laws.
The Law of Strength is eye-opening because most people have absolutely no idea of how much strength we really have. Having worked through the first six laws, you have a better understanding of the Law of Strength than most. We really do have the strength to do whatever we want to do. We do have the strength to change ourselves and become who and what we want.
The second of these two eye-opening laws is the Law of Teaching. This law reveals to us that we teach others all the time because of who and what we are, whether we know it or not, whether we like it or not. Other people watch what we do, how we act, and listen to what we say and how we say it. They learn by watching us and listening to us. This is the Law of Teaching: everything we think, say, and do is a lesson that teaches things to other people.
Other people learn by watching and listening to us. That's eye-opening indeed. What they'll learn from us is entirely up to us. We get to decide how we'll act, what we'll say and how we'll say it. One way to do that is to take an inventory of the things you have already learned from the teachings of others:
• List the good things your father taught you
• List the good things your mother taught you
• List the good things your children, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, and cousins taught you
• List the good things your aunts, uncles, grandparents, great uncles, great aunts, and all your ancestors taught you
• List the good things your spouse, lovers, friends, fellow students and fellow employees taught you
• List the good things your enemies and antagonists taught you
• List the good things all other persons, places, and things taught you
• List the good things you want others to learn from you
In accomplishing the tasks to follow, your instructions are to identify at least three qualities for each step. For the time being it’s usually best not to list more than five. Your goal is to identify about two dozen qualities that, since you have learned them from others, you want others to learn from you. These qualities can involve appearance, attitudes, behaviors, body language, emotional responses, eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, hand movements and any other technique or quality you identify.
1. List the good things your father taught you through your interactions with him.
2. List the good things your mother taught you through your interactions with her.
3. List the good things your children, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, and cousins taught you through your interactions with them.
4. List the good things your aunts, uncles, grandparents, great uncles, great aunts, and all your ancestors taught you through your interactions with them.
5. List the good things your spouse, lovers, friends, fellow students and fellow employees taught you through your interactions with them.
6. List the good things your enemies and antagonists taught you through your interactions with them. This one can be tricky. Remember that very often what you learn from interactions with enemies and antagonists isn’t taught by what they did, but by what you wish they had done instead.
7. List the good things all other persons, places, and things taught you. Consider celebrities and other people you don't normally interact with on a regular basis, but whose example taught you something.
8. List eight to twelve good things you want others to learn from you. That's your first task. Your second task is to determine how other people are going to learn these things from you.
This last task can be more complex than it seems at first glance. Start by writing down the things that other people learn from your thoughts, words, and actions right now, and think about whether this is what you want to teach them. If you’re comfortable with what you’re teaching other people, see if there’s anything you want to add to what you teach them. If you’re not comfortable with what you’re teaching other people, think about which of your habitual patterns of behavior you’ll have to change in order to teach them something different.
Once you have a list of the things you want to teach people, and have thought through how you want to teach the things on the list, at least once a day, spend some time imagining yourself doing the actions, saying the words, and thinking the thoughts that will teach these things to the people around you. You have already learned that what starts as imagination finishes as reality. Use that knowledge, and imagine yourself teaching the good things you want others to learn from you.
When you've completed these tasks to your satisfaction for all eight of these steps, you have completed the work for the rank of 7/8 in the Octagon Society. (The material covered in the work for this rank is intentionally a little less demanding than those for some of the other ranks, since you will still be working on some of the steps in the previous lesson during the time you spend on this one.)
(no subject)
Date: 2021-10-08 06:33 am (UTC)Silly question alert
Date: 2021-10-08 12:50 pm (UTC)Just want to make sure I've got all the goods - thanks for sharing this with everyone.
Re: Silly question alert
Date: 2021-10-08 06:14 pm (UTC)Law of forgiveness
Date: 2021-10-08 03:31 pm (UTC)Not forgiving others. That’s easy for me.
How I can ever forgive myself. Or know what that even means.
The person I have wronged; I can’t ever undo that. It is etched in the fabric of the universe forever.
God forgives us. The people we’ve hurt forgive us. But how can we forgive ourselves for what we’ve done knowing that it can never be undone.
Sure we are not the same person perhaps. However that moment in time is forever crystallized.
Not expecting you to have an answer.
Not even sure why I’m sharing this.
Self forgiveness is something I’ve been struggling with for many years, and can see no way of not.
Re: Law of forgiveness
Date: 2021-10-08 03:56 pm (UTC)? Makes it seem that there is an answer.
Re: Law of forgiveness
Date: 2021-10-08 06:16 pm (UTC)Re: Law of forgiveness
Date: 2021-10-08 07:09 pm (UTC)2/8 Question
Date: 2021-10-09 11:49 am (UTC)Thanks!
- Amaranth Obtuse Spider (I know it's not Magic Monday, but it does make searching for the comment thread later much easier)
Re: 2/8 Question
Date: 2021-10-09 04:13 pm (UTC)It's fine to post questions about the OSA work in these posts, btw. Once the Order is reactivated there'll be another forum for such things, but that's still in the future.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-10-09 02:58 pm (UTC)Funnily enough as I'm reading I noticed that I have been going through something like this already on my own accord just spotty, with no method or structure and definitely no writing. Looking forward to going through in a more orderly fashion, getting stuff out of the way and repaired before it comes back to bite.
Thank you for offering the opportunity!
-Copper
(no subject)
Date: 2021-10-09 04:14 pm (UTC)TSW :-)
Date: 2021-10-10 03:17 pm (UTC)In an earlier OSA post, it was recommended to review the day in reverse order and as dispassionately as possible before going to sleep.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_morningbrief/why-do-i-always-wake-between-3-am-and-5-am_4029997.html had an interesting explanation, about how Eastern medical models feel the Liver is "responsible for cleansing our system of toxic thoughts and emotions" (and "liver time" is 3am-5am). The author recommends journaling before bed as a way to prevent a nightime cortisol spike (from processing stress), which seems a variation of reviewing the day in reverse order (dispassionately).
Interestingly, my night-time wake-ups tended to be earlier; the comments indicate that "liver time" is really 1-3am (and lungs are 3-5).
Regardless, my sleeping through the night is definitely improving as I work through the OSA assignments. Thank you for making them available.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-10-11 10:46 am (UTC)I'm struggling with the sixth group of people in each step - enemies and antagonists. I simply don't feel that I have any. Sure, there are/were people in my life with whom it was difficult to have a good relationship. I've experienced a good share of bullying back as a child/teenager and some forms of abuse. I do experience moments and periods of animosity and anger towards some people past and present but in those moments I tend to feel angry or sad about a lot of people and sometimes it is focused on the people I love and care about. Those moments and periods are temporary and when they go away I can't really call anyone an enemy. Not even the politicians who drive up these 'green passes' right now. They all belong more to the category of 'all other people' rather than to 'enemies'.
It feels as if somehow labeling someone an 'enemy' locks me into an antagonistic relationship with them that I see no point of having.
Any advise on how to deal with this?
(no subject)
Date: 2021-10-11 06:47 pm (UTC)I seem to have another permutations of a situations that might warrant wording changes. This is in conjunction with lesson 1/3, about things that make us unhappy or sad.
Would you consider adding an additional clause to this (original) "List the things all other persons whatsoever did to you that made you feel sad or unhappy" about conditions or situations that are not caused by persons but that still make you unhappy?
For example, I'm not particularly happy about where I live (and that feeling tends to dominate when I walk out my front door). Now, I live here and not elsewhere because of another person's influence, yes, however my unhappiness with his role in this is distinct from my unhappiness with the situation, the place (and what I perceive as its deficits)...
So, just a thought to add one option that's not so human-centric.