Prospectus for the Seeker Grade
Apr. 14th, 2022 01:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ecosophia
This is the first paper to be studied once members of the Fellowship of the Hermetic Rose have performed the 1° initiation, which was posted last week. It summarizes the work ahead. I've also appended a classic John Gilbert essay and a couple of links for further resources. Enjoy! * * * * *
1° Overview
Welcome Seeker! Once you have completed the preparatory studies of the Candidate grade and performed the initiation ritual posted last week, you are a member of the Fellowship of the Hermetic Rose and an initiate of the 1° grade of Seeker. The work before you is considerable but it builds on what you have already learned.
1. Continued daily practice of a protective ritual (Sphere of Protection, Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram, or Judson exercise), discursive meditation, and some form of divination;
2. Continued weekly practice of the ritual for opening and closing the temple;
3. Study of several papers assigned to the Seeker grade;
4. Study of at least one additional book on some aspect of occultism;
5. Practice of a series of scryings of the element of Earth;
6. Creation and consecration of a pentacle of Earth.
Once you complete these requirements, you will be able to perform the self-initiation ritual for the 2° grade of Sojourner. This uses the same equipment as the 1° initiation, though you will only need one of the candles, and you will also need your pentacle of Earth. At least one month should elapse between your Seeker and Sojourner initiations; you may take as much additional time as you find useful.
A few comments on some of the requirements for the grade may be helpful at this point. The book you read to fulfill requirement #4 may be literally any book on any occult topic, so long as you have not previously read it. It can be a good book, an indifferent book, or a really dreadful book, as there is something to learn from each of these. To become a capable occultist you will need to know your way around the literature of occultism, so you might as well get started; the number of books you will need to read for each grade, at a minimum, is the number of the grade itself: 1 for the 1°, 2 for the 2°, and so on. If you’re short on money, remember that most public libraries have some books on occultism—in the Dewey decimal system used in most US libraries, they’re near the beginning of the nonfiction section at or just after Dewey number 133. You can also search archive.org using keywords such as “occult” and “divination,” or visit the IAPSOP collection of classic out-of-copyright occult books at iapsop.com/ssoc/ and download texts to your heart’s content. If you can’t find something in any of those sources to read, check to see if you still have a pulse.
Scrying is the receptive use of the imagination, as creating astral forms is the active use. In scrying, you imagine yourself entering another realm of being and experiencing things there. You don’t have to be good at visualizing to practice scrying, though it’s an advantage if you are. The FHR, like John Gilbert’s Magickal Order of the Golden Dawn before it, uses its own distinctive set of elemental symbols as symbols for scrying. All this will be explained in detail in a forthcoming paper.
The pentacle, as mentioned in a previous paper, is the working tool of the element of Earth. You will need to make or buy one before you finish the work of this grade. There are various kinds of pentacles in use in modern occult practice. The one you will make or purchase as a Seeker should be a disk of some sturdy substance 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 cm.) across; wood is the easiest material for most people to find, but if you want to make your pentacle out of ceramic or some other substance this is fine. It should not be any form of metal, however.
Your pentacle is decorated with a symbol that you consider holy. For example, if you are a Christian, it would be entirely appropriate for you to place a cross or a crucifix on your pentacle. If you are a Druid, the symbol of the Three Rays of Light might be appropriate; if you are a Hindu, the holy word Om, and so on. If you do not belong to a religion, the pentagram or five pointed star is a traditional decoration. However you decorate your pentagram, the symbol may be painted, carved, cut out of paper and glued, or attached in any other way that appeals to you. It may be very simple—the pentagram I made and consecrated under John Gilbert’s tutelage, and am using for field testing the FHR rituals, is a plain disk of wood six inches across, with a pentagram made of construction paper glued to one side—the points are triangles of white, red, yellow, blue, and green paper to represent the elements. Plain as it is, this works well.
More detailed instructions for making and consecrating the pentacle of Earth will be given in a later paper.
The following paper on developing a personal spirituality should be read and studied during the time you spend in this grade.
* * * * *
Developing Your Own Unique Spiritual Path
John F. Gilbert
If each of us is a unique part of the creation, then it is very logical to assume each of us has our own spiritual agenda. That spiritual agenda is more than to learn how to accept, forgive and love everything and everybody more and more. That spiritual agenda includes resolving all of our spiritual, mental, emotional, psychological and physical issues of every kind.
If each of us is a unique part of the creation, and if the Divine is the all-accepting, all-forgiving and all-loving Source of all things, then it stands to reason we each have a unique set of tools to resolve all of our personal issues. Those tools are our innate intelligence, life experience, intuitive insights and direct communion with the Divine.
Our innate intelligence is all the knowledge we've gained on our journey through life since our birth. It also includes some deeper knowledge we brought into this lifetime from our spiritual home where we resided before our birth. That knowledge may be close to the surface in some people, but for most of us it is buried deep in our subconscious mind. Nobody can tell us what that knowledge is or where it's hidden or why. But when the situation calls for it, we can access that hidden knowledge. We just know what to do in spite of the fact we never learned to do that.
Our life experience is unique. Even people in the same situation learn and experience that situation differently. We see life through our own eyes and we filter what we see with our own mind, emotions and desires. We experience life with every level of our being. We experience life with our physical vehicle (Earth), astral body (Fire), emotions (Water), mind (Air) and our spiritual being (Spirit). We each experience life differently because we are each different people.
Our intuitive insights are also individualized. They speak to the person we are about the people and things in our life. When we tune into another person we pick up only what they are willing to share with us and what we pick up is filtered and limited by our own mind, feelings and desires. Our intuitive insights about ourselves are also filtered and limited by our own mind, feelings and desires. (mind = Air, feelings = Water and desires = Fire.)
Our direct communication with the Divine is likewise filtered and limited by our own mind, feelings and desires. When we learn to expand out mind, balance our feelings and subdue our passions, our direct communication with the Divine becomes Divine communion. To expand our mind means to become more aware, pay attention to life, awaken to our true spiritual identity, improve our memory, imagine a better future, logically solve problems, pay attention to our conscience and intuitive insights and allow our consciousness to expand. To balance our feelings means to become calm and peaceful during our Divine communion. To subdue our passions is to do the same thing.
This is a process. It doesn't happen overnight.The process is to study and learn everything we want to study and learn. The process is to be ourselves and learn what appeals to us. It appeals to us because that's who we are. Take control of your own life. Discard the things that no longer serve you. Follow your own unique spiritual path. If you find something helpful, add it to your spiritual practices. If and when it is no longer useful to you, discard that part of your spiritual practices. Do the things that help you become the spiritual person you came here to become.
The world is filled with every kind of knowledge you can possibly imagine. You can not learn it all and you cannot use it all. Find what you want to learn and then learn it. Use what serves you and your spiritual path and discard the rest. Everything is not for everybody. Life offers us many more things than we could ever possibly use or need. We have to make choices and the choices we make predict our future.
Knowledge can be used to free you from the bondage of this world or to control you. Whenever anybody tells you that you must do it their way, you are their employee and you are entitled to be paid for your services. If anybody requires you to pay them so you can do it their way, you are paying them to control you. This is not a wise choice. First of all, their path is not your spiritual path. If any part of their path appeals to you, find another teacher who can help you learn that part, a teacher who wants you to learn how to find and follow your own unique spiritual path. Then learn what you want to learn and make it a part of your own unique spiritual path.
* * * * *
Two additional resources are recommended for your use at this stage of the work. The first is the collected monthly letters of American spiritual teacher Manly P. Hall, which you can access here. John had a great deal of respect for Hall, and though he disagreed with Hall on some important points of teaching, he mentioned more than once that anybody with an interest in occultism should read what Hall had to say and think about the ideas and insights presented therein.
The second is a collection of freely downloadable books on palmistry, which you can access here. Palmistry was one of the divinatory arts taught in the MOGD, but good information on it is hard to find in recent books. The collection linked here includes a good many first-rate manuals on the subject. You may or may not find it helpful to take up palmistry as one of your three divination methods, but if you do, these will give you plenty of instruction to work with. Yes, reading any of these books will count as the book on occultism you are expected to read in this grade.
A Few Other Useful Call Nos.
Date: 2022-04-15 12:38 pm (UTC)001.944 ... The following is the call number for the first edition of Greer's Monster's, for instance, in the system I work in: 001.944 G816 2001.)
135.4: Here you will find works on Rosicrucianism, Hermetism and Cabala. (For instance, 135.43 Y31 1996, The Rosicrucian Enlightenment by Yates, or 135.43 S678Zr 1999 The Rosicrucian Enlightenment Revisited ed. by John Matthews)
The 299s have books on religions other than Christianity, and within these you will find the section on Theosophy at 299.934. A variety of occult related topics can tend to be found within the 299 section. Man Visible and Invisible by Leadbeater has the call no. 299.934 L434 1952 in our system. (Also, some of the older Theosophy books can be found in the 212 and 235 ranges...)
This title in 299.934 caught my eye while browsing the catalog: Masonry and medieval mysticism :traces of a hidden tradition by Isabel Cooper-Oakley. I wonder why it wasn't given the 366 treatement?
In the 366 range you will find books on Secret Societies, and some occult books, such as Mystic masonry, or, The symbols of freemasonry and the greater mysteries of antiquity by J. D. Buck. 366.1 B922m 1913
Just to say, a few other areas where you might find occult books...
There are lots of things buried around in different sections if you look, and though not specifically occult per se, the 398 range, with 398.2, is a good place to go when you need to look at folklore.
Happy hunting!
Justin Patrick Moore
Re: A Few Other Useful Call Nos.
Date: 2022-04-15 05:02 pm (UTC)Re: A Few Other Useful Call Nos.
Date: 2022-04-15 05:34 pm (UTC)I'm perhaps a bit overzealous when wanting to pass along book lists, call nos., etc. so I hope my enthusiasm was not amiss.
I definitely the smaller libraries and places where the purges are happening won't be keeping the older titles on the shelves as long as we have which is a shame.
Also archive is great so you can download a PDF of an old book that otherwise might be reference only and then you can read it at leisure.
Thanks also for providing all this, including the John Gilbert essay on developing your own spiritual path. It has a lot packed into a small space and I hope to unpack some of it in meditation.
All the best,
Justin
P.S.: I see a bibliographic essay in my future, what the topic is, I'm not sure yet, but that will scratch that itch....
Justin
Re: A Few Other Useful Call Nos.
Date: 2022-04-15 05:54 pm (UTC)Re: A Few Other Useful Call Nos.
Date: 2022-04-16 03:50 am (UTC)—Princess Cutekitten
Re: A Few Other Useful Call Nos.
Date: 2022-04-22 08:33 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-04-15 02:37 pm (UTC)Axé,
Fra' Lupo
(no subject)
Date: 2022-04-15 05:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-08-29 04:20 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-08-29 06:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-04-16 02:39 am (UTC)Although I'm not following these set of practices at this point in time. I am enjoying reading these post and comparing it to POW/COP. However, I do now have 3 forms of divination I'm working on thanks to these post.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-04-16 03:30 am (UTC)