The Polytheist Middle Pillar Exercise

[ecosophia]

A while back I posted a version of the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram for people who want to get into ceremonial magic but aren’t into the Judeo-Christian symbolism of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, on the one hand, or the Druid Revival symbolism of the Druidical Order of the Golden Dawn on the other. I’ve heard from a number of people who’ve worked with that ritual and had good results with it. Now it’s time for the next ingredient in basic magical training, the Middle Pillar exercise, adapted for the same purpose.

This is the basic internal energy practice of Golden Dawn magic. It’s meant to waken and energize five energy centers in the subtle body, and then circulate energy through the subtle body as a whole. It’s best done every day, right after the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram and right before your daily meditation.

You’re going to need to personalize this rite to work with whatever pantheon of deities you prefer. You’re going to need the names of five deities; you’re also going to need five colors and five symbols.

The default option here, adapted from Israel Regardie’s The Art of True Healing, is to use deities corresponding to the five elements—spirit, air, fire, water, and earth, in that order. In that case the colors are white, yellow, red, blue, and brown, in that order, and the symbols are the sun, a cloud, a flame, a drop of water, and a stone.

That’s the default option, again. You don’t have to use the default option.  If your tradition has other symbols for the five elements, you can use them; if it associates the elements with other colors, you can use those.

You can also choose a different and subtler logic for the deities you assign to the energy centers. The first deity can be the supreme deity of your pantheon; the second can be a deity of wisdom and initiation; the third can be a hero deity, a sun deity, or a deity of  the hearth; the fourth can be a fertility deity, or a woodland deity, or a deity who’s closely associated with the life force; and the fifth can be a maiden goddess. (Those readers who know their way around The Celtic Golden Dawn now know the logic behind that book’s version of the exercise.)

By the way, in case you were wondering, the names of the deities don’t have to have four letters each. That was just for the pentagram ritual.)

However you do it, work out a suitable table as follows:

Crown center:             DEITY 1         COLOR 1       SYMBOL 1

Throat center:              DEITY 2         COLOR 2       SYMBOL 2

Heart center:               DEITY 3         COLOR 3       SYMBOL 3

Genital center:             DEITY 4         COLOR 4       SYMBOL 4

Foot Center:                DEITY 5         COLOR 5       SYMBOL 5

In the Druidical GD, these are as follows:

Crown center:             Hu                   White              Sun

Throat center:             Ced                 Violet              Crescent moon

Heart center:               Hesus              Golden          Cluster of oak leaves

Genital center:             Coel/Sul*        Silver               Red dragon

Foot Center:                Olwen             Green              White trefoil

*There’s a lot of polarity symbolism in Druidical magic, so which deity you invoke at the genital center is determined by which set of physical genitalia you have, Coel if you’ve got male genitals, Sul if you’ve got the female set.

Or let’s say you wanted to do an Anglo-Saxon version, one option might be this:

Crown center:              Tiw                  White              Sun

Throat center:              Woden             Blue                 Raven

Heart center:               Frige                Red                 Spindle

Genital center:             Ing                   Green              Sheaf of Barley

Foot Center:                Eostre              Brown             Flowers

Other arrangements could be chosen easily enough; these are just samples. Make your decision and give it a try.

Once you’ve got your table constructed, the exercise is done as follows:

*********************

First, perform the complete Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram.

Second, imagine a ray of light descending from infinite space to form a sphere of light just above your head, around eight inches in diameter. This sphere is COLOR 1 and contains SYMBOL 1. When you have formulated it clearly in your imagination, vibrate NAME 1 three times.

Third, bring the ray of light to your throat, and form another sphere. This one is COLOR 2 and contains SYMBOL 2. When you have formulated it, vibrate NAME 2 three times.

Fourth, bring the ray of light to your heart, and form a third sphere, which is COLOR 3 and contains SYMBOL 3.  NAME 3 is vibrated here three times.

Fifth, bring the ray of light to your genital center, and form a fourth sphere.  This one is COLOR 4 and contans SYMBOL 4. NAME 4 is vibrated here three times.

Sixth, bring the ray of light to your feet, and form a fifth center. This one is COLOR 5 and contains SYMBOL 5.  The name vibrated here, three times, is NAME 5.

Seventh, return the attention to the center at the top of the head. Bring a current of white light a few inches wide down the right side of the head and neck,  the right shoulder and arm, and the right hip and leg, down to the center at the feet, and then back up the left leg and hip, the left arm and shoulder, and the left side of the neck and head, back to the center at the head.  Repeat this a total of three times; if possible, synchronize with the breath, so that the energy flows down with the outbreath and up with the inbreath, but it is more important to visualize the whole course than to make it happen within a single breath.

Eighth, in the same way, bring a current of white light from the center above the head, down the midline of the front of the body to the center at the feet, and then back up the midline of the back of the body to the center above the head. Repeat a total of three times.

Ninth, turn the attention to the center at the feet. Breathing in, draw a current of energy up the Middle Pillar of the body from that center to the center above the head; breathing out, allow it to spray like a fountain out and over the whole body, cleansing the entire aura, pooling at the feet and being drawn back up the Middle Pillar with the next inbreath. Do this a total of three times.

Tenth, perform the Circle of Presence. This completes the exercise. 

***********

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Crescent Moon? Have I been doing it wrong this whole time, visualizing the Full Moon?

[ecosophia]

No, that's not wrong, it's just different. As the above may suggest, there's a lot of room for variation in the symbolism.

[(Anonymous)]

Oh ok good.

Actually for about 6 months I visualized the Moon at my throat as whatever phase the actual Moon was in... but then I discovered that my mood and energy levels were waxing and waning with the lunar cycle, so I switched to the Full Moon.

[ecosophia]

That makes sense! I always use the waxing crescent, but the full moon ought to work fine as well -- or I suppose, for those of Lovecraftian tastes, a waxing gibbous moon... ;-)

Typo in Seventh(?)

[(Anonymous)]

left for right?

Your other left?

[(Anonymous)]

JMG, you wrote in the direction for the seventh step "...back up the left leg and hip, the right arm and shoulder, and the left side of the neck and head..." It should be the left arm and shoulder, correct?

Re: Your other left?

[ecosophia]

Yep. Thanks for catching that! I've fixed it.

[(Anonymous)]

which deity you invoke at the genital center is determined by which set of physical genitalia you have, Coel if you’ve got male genitals, Sul if you’ve got the female set

Should people who have had sex reassignment surgery invoke the deity corresponding to their current genital configuration, or the one corresponding to the genital configuration they had at birth? Also, for intersex people whose genitals don't match either of the standard sets, which deity should they invoke?

[ecosophia]

Two very good questions to which I don't know the answer. Sex reassignment surgery is recent enough that there hasn't been an adequate body of experience built up in terms of its magical effects. In the Western world, furthermore, being intersexed was subject to heavy taboos until quite recently, and intersex people generally hid their condition -- thus if any of them worked with the kind of magic that raises polarity issues, the results didn't get into circulation in the occult scene.

If there are enough post-op trans people and intersex people interested in this kind of work to do some experimentation, that would be most interesting, and helpful to future generations of mages in training. Until and unless that happens, though, I'm not sure what to say.

[violetcabra]

Well, I'm a post operative trans person who feels my etheric body may be female, given the uncanny sense that I have anatomy I don't physically possess. Since I work with the Greek pantheon, I'll try doing the genital center with Astarte and Pan respectively and report which one fits better. I'm not sure quite how to design this experiment; having a control is difficult when there is a sample size of only one!

[ecosophia]

That's one of the things that makes the fit between science and magic so awkward -- every magical experiment by definition has a sample size of one, an infinite number of uncontrollable variables, and no possibility of keeping the point of the experiment hidden from the subject.

That said, please do let me know how it comes out -- it's by adding together many individual experiences that teachers of magic get a rough sense of what might work in any individual case.

[violetcabra]

Point well taken about science and magic. If I may report back so quickly as this, I tried it for the first time with Astarte and am amazed by how much better I feel than before doing the ritual...I don't want to get to personal, but I feel sexual for the first time in well over a year probably more like two, sexual not just in the vulgar sense, but also with enhanced vitality and aliveness in my body.

I'm astounded by how much stagnant energy was in my body, and how dramatically the Middle Pillar exercise was able to move it. Given my sharp criticisms of transgender ideology and a string of ugly relationships, I have struggled with great shame and fear towards my gender/sexuality, and I had been withdrawing my sex drive and was, it seems now, withdrawing my spirit increasingly out of my body. Now I feel properly embodied, which is a huge shift. Of course, I'll report more if and when things change, but I'm very reluctant to try with Pan given how right and healthy this feels.

In closing, thank you so much for sharing this ritual! Again, I'm astounded by the dramatic improvement in my sense of embodiment.

[ecosophia]

The Middle Pillar exercise rocks. It's the beating heart of Golden Dawn magical training, and yes, it has a cascade of beneficial results right down the planes from spirit to matter.

Many thanks also for the data point. I'll be very interested to hear how the working with Pan works out.

[violetcabra]

Okay I've tried working with Pan. The first one went as such:

1. Zeus

2. Hermes

3. Apollo

4. Astarte

5. Hestia

The second went:

1. Zeus

2. Athena

3. Apollo

4. Pan

5. Hestia

Hermes was replaced him with Athena to have a better gender balance.

Results: Astarte works much better for me; doing the Middle Pillar with Pan in the genital portion made me feel immediately somewhat sickly "down there", as if my wiring was being messed with somewhat. I feel more spaced out and dissociated from my body. My sexuality feels nulled, and my senses further from my body. After working with Astarte I felt strong, sexy and fierce in the presence of my physical embodiment, working with Pan in this context I feel spaced and weakened, even impotent or broken. However, I want to note that working with Athena in this context is a very powerful and good experience, fierce in a different way than Astarte. To be honest, Hermes fits my temperament better and I'll most likely return to working with him. I'm a little reluctant, shall we say, to invoke two warrior goddesses every morning!

The first ritual is perhaps better designed for me in the sense that I've worked with Astarte and Hermes extensively in the LBRP for months and weeks respectively. So on a certain level that may explain the fantastic results I've gotten with it the two times I've worked with it. Of course I'll return to the original arrangement, as to do the second day in and day out seems as if it would be harmful.

Interpretation: I think that for post-op trans people and intersex folks the important thing is the etheric component of sex. Since I feel that I have, not intellectually mind you but physically, a female reproductive system, it would make sense that when working with the sexual aspects of my etheric body it would be more useful to invoke a goddess than god.

The significance, if I am correct, is that people who only identify emotionally and intellectually as members of the opposite sex would likely harm themselves by using cross-sexed deities for the genital center. People who have the ongoing and chronic physical/etheric sense of cross-sexed anatomy may be able to work with cross-sexed deities.

Of course I'm post-operative which is a game changer, since I don't have a reproductive system, period. I also took cross-sexual hormones for well over 5 years, which changed my body in many ways as well. It would be interesting, to say the least, if people who have intense gender dysphoria but have not gone the route of medical intervention experimented with both god and goddess in the genital center.

[ecosophia]

Thank you for this. The entire issue of how to work with gender polarity in ritual magic is one that's just beginning to get adequate experimentation; until fairly recently -- as in, pretty much until I published The Celtic Golden Dawn -- the default option was to use Judeo-Christian symbolism and names for this kind of work, which means pretty much all masculine energies all the time (with the occasional bit of feminine energies related solely to the foot center). I've found by repeated testing that invoking two gods and two goddesses in the LRP, and putting them so that god faces god and goddess faces goddess, pretty reliably gets the best results.

The Middle Pillar exercise is still much less thoroughly explored territory in these terms -- the alternation of male and female deities for the genital center in The Celtic Golden Dawn was something that I got handed in meditation, rather than something I reasoned out for myself. So all this is grist for the mill...

[violetcabra]

That's interesting about the Judeo-Christian symbolism and highly masculine energies; I performed the LRP from Paths of Wisdom one day and felt sick afterwards, that is, until I did the LBRP with the gender/balanced Greek Pantheon. Then I felt a palpable sense of relief.

After doing the Middle Pillar with Pan, I was in a pretty bad mood all day. Finally, I cast a divination and did the whole Middle Pillar again with Hermes and Astarte. Immediately I felt a palpable sense of relief.

There is of course another another fold to this which bears some thought, if I may. To be blunt, from one perspective I'm a post operative trans woman, from another I'm a eunuch. According to my research, Astarte had a cult of eunuchs. I don't know of the same being true for Pan. Frankly, I take the stance that it makes a lot sense for a post-op trans woman to work with deities that have traditionally been worshipped by eunuchs, especially in a context relating to sexuality or genitalia!

Okay, this has been a lot of personal information on a public forum! I hope that this information may contribute to the understanding of polarity in certain contexts. Most pertinently, thank you JMG, personally, for doing this innovative work to make GD material more flexible. I'm directly benefiting from it in a way that I seriously doubt I could from practicing the more traditional Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn material.

thanks

[(Anonymous)]

Violet, this is fascinating information, and I not only thank you for sharing, but applaud you for the courage it takes to be open in public. I'm very glad you feel comfortable enough with us on this forum to do so--Sister Crow

Breath

[(Anonymous)]

"synchronize with the breath, so that the energy flows down with the outbreath and up with the inbreath, but it is more important to visualize the whole course than to make it happen within a single breath."

I have been doing this the opposite way for years, going down the right side with the inbreath and up the left with the out breath. Then down the front with an inbreath and up the back with the out. Reading what you wrote here, does it affect the energy body negatively to do it the way I have been or is there a particular reason to do it that way, or does either way work? I cant say I've felt a negative impact doing it the way I do, but would definately be open to try it the other way. Curious as to your thoughts.

Dean Smith

Re: Breath

[ecosophia]

If it seems to be working well for you, keep on doing it the way you've been doing it. Many people find it easier to send the energy down on the outbreath, is all -- and you needn't be one of those people.

Re: Breath

[(Anonymous)]

I guess I don't do I? Most of the reason I liked and like doing it that way is because it wasn't difficult for me to do it that way, and I like that the out breath ended in Celi up the back, then I could go directly into an in breath to bring the energy up the middle to the out breath when the light flows out the crown and down. It just seemed more seamless to me.

On another note, I just read your story "Walpurgis Night" out of Lovcraftiana and man oh man, that was a good one! Much darker in tone than the last short story I read from you, yet it left me wanting to join the little club in the story.

Dean Smith

Re: Breath

[ecosophia]

Fair enough! If that works for you, go ye forth and do likewise.

Many thanks for your comments on "Walpurgis Night." It's not my usual kind of Lovecraft story, but I thought it worked fairly well; it's good to hear that that wasn't just my impression. ;-)

[daveotn]

So does this occupy the same place (roughly) in Golden Dawn work that the Elemental Gates do in the AODA rituals?

[ecosophia]

Not quite. The whole Sphere of Protection, including the opening of the elemental gates, is roughly the equivalent of the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram -- though the Sphere is somewhat more complex and has some applications that the Golden Dawn assigns to more complex rituals. The equivalent of the Middle Pillar exercise in the AODA system is the Grail Working, which is given in my book The Druid Magic Handbook.

[(Anonymous)]

If the Grail Working and the Middle Pillar are rough equivalents, why is it that the Grail Working is one of the most advanced workings in the Druid Magic Handbook, but the Middle Pillar is a daily exercise from early on in Golden Dawn magic?

[ecosophia]

Because they're different magical systems that work with different energies in different ways, of course.

[amritarosa]

Hello JMG,

Is there an approximate period of time one should practice the Pentagram Ritual before adding in the Middle Pillar? Or a particular set of results one should reach in practice of the Pentagrams before adding it in?

thanks!
Bonnie

[ecosophia]

A month of daily practices would be adequate; if you haven't been doing it daily, thirty repetitions will do. You want to get to the point that the LBRP feels comfortable and familiar before adding in the Middle Pillar.

[churrundo]

This is awesome!
I don't remember where I had read that the middle pillar exercise was not entry-level. I'm eager to try this, however i think I should first polish the Sphere of Protection. The link you gave me on Reddit was what i had been using, but the part about circulating the light of the Cross, should I do it before invoking/banishing?
What I've been doing (after the elemental cross) I trace clockwise the greek symbol of air in yellow flame and say the name of Hermes. I try to mentally ask for mental clarity because i don't feel sufficiently eloquent to state it out loud. It feels awkward. Then, i'm not dure if I should trace the symbol counter clockwise and rinse and repeat with all the other elements, or, leave the symbol open and go with the other elements. A little help?

[churrundo]

Nevermind. I just re read the instructions more carefully and It's a bit clearer on what I have to do with the elemental doors. I'm gonna do as it says and give it a week of air invoking and banishing, then continue with the other ones one by one. Now, that raises the question: you've said that invoking and then banishing is like opening and then closing a door. Right now, I do it like that as a kind of rehearsal, right? My question is, when i do get the motions down, how should i decide when to only banish and when to invoke and then close?

[ecosophia]

Nope. The Sphere of Protection is not the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram; it does different things in different ways. Notice how, when you invoke and banish in the SoP, you choose specific things to invoke and banish -- when you invoke, in the example in the article, you say something like "I invoke you to improve my Mind by doing what needs to be done without harm to me or anyone." When you banish, you say something like "I banish all negative thoughts and ideas, negative mental energy and attitudes, from within and around me. I banish you far away from me."

You choose what to invoke and what to banish in each of the elements -- but you do both an invocation and a banishing every time you do the ritual. That's one of the things that sets the SoP apart from the Golden Dawn-style ritual work I've discussed here.

[churrundo]

I see now. Very well. Now, i'm eager to do the middle pillar exercise. Is the version outlined here compatible with the SoP?

[ecosophia]

Nope. If you want to do the Middle Pillar exercise, you need to learn the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram instead of the Sphere of Protection. Magical systems aren't mix-and-match; if you have a tire for a car, it won't do you much good to try to use it on your bicycle, and the same principle applies to magical rituals.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm gonna start with the LBRP and I want to use Zeus, Hera, Ares and Gaia, however I feel like the elemental alignments should go with Zeus in air, Ares in fire, Hera in water and Gaia in earth, but this breaks the rule that the gods must face each other. Alternatively, where should each deity go?

[(Anonymous)]

Is it dangerous to do the Middle Pillar without first doing a banishing ritual?

[ecosophia]

No, but you won't get anything like the same benefits. The banishing only takes five minutes -- you can spare the time and effort to do it right.

[churrundo]

For curiosity, what effects can one expect from daily Practice of this ritual?