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John Michael Greer ([personal profile] ecosophia) wrote2020-02-29 10:58 pm

Sphere of Protection and Eastern Exercises

tai chi chihA project that I'm currently working on for publication is a manual of occult theory and practice for the beginning and intermediate student. This isn't a book about magic -- it's occultism in the sense found in Manly P. Hall and The Kybalion, the quest for wisdom and revelation through study of occult lore and practice of meditation and certain other related disciplines. The one ritual that plays a central role in it is the Sphere of Protection -- and thereby hangs a tale. 

One of the things that was just beginning to happen back in the waning years of classical American occultism's golden age was that certain  Asian exercises were beginning to find a home in the occult repertory. That's a process that deserves to be restarted, because (for complex historical reasons) Europe and the European diaspora lost their subtle-body exercises a long time ago, while Asia kept the traditions going. Since occult training (as distinct from magical training) doesn't involve circulating energy through subtle centers in the body -- the thing that can produce messy results when you mix it with Asian ways of doing the same thing -- it should be possible to combine occult training with practice of some of the more widely available Eastern exercise systems. 

"Should be possible" is a shaky reed to lean on, though. Thus I'd like to ask for some help from my readers. 

I know a fair number of readers of mine have taken up the Sphere of Protection as a regular practice, using either The Druid Magic Handbook or my posts here on Dreamwidth as a guide. I know that some of you also practice eastern exercises or physical disciplines such as yoga. What I want to know is whether you've noticed any interaction at all between regular practice of the SoP and regular practice of Eastern movement arts, including but not limited to: 
  • Aikido
  • Hatha yoga
  • Karate
  • Shintaido
  • Tai Chi Chih
  • Taijiquan
I've been able to experiment with Shintaido and Tai Chi Chih myself. (For those who aren't familiar with these, Shintaido is a movement art derived from martial arts, which was devised by Hiroyuki Aoki in the 1960s -- link here -- and Tai Chi Chih is a set of energy exercises created by taijiquan teacher Justin Stone in the US in the 1970s -- link here. I ended up exploring both of these after my magical practices and my practice of one of the old, very qigong-heavy taijiquan styles interacted badly and messed up my health; Tai Chi Chih is my current daily movement exercise.)  Your experience may be different from mine, though, so if you've worked with either of these and the SoP, I'd be grateful for your comments -- and if you've done something else along with the SoP, please consider telling me all about it!

(Anonymous) 2020-03-01 07:34 am (UTC)(link)
What kind of evidence is there that there were European subtle-body exercises which have since been lost? Are there historical records of some kind?

~Bewilderness

(Anonymous) 2020-03-02 11:07 pm (UTC)(link)
How about Gurdjieff's dance movements? He claimed that he learned them from Oriental sources, but I'm not sure if it is correct.

[personal profile] robertmathiesen 2020-03-01 08:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Jessie L. Weston, in her (uneven) late book, "From Ritual to Romance" (1920), has some very shrewd insights into the role that such things as morris-dancing and sword-dancing may have played in surviving pre-Christian esoteric practices during the Middle Ages in England. She connects them with Grail legends and the rituals that embodied them, and situates this esoteric practice in the far north of England and the south of Scotland. (A. E. Waite wrote her book off in his studies on the Grail, but Waite, too, had his blind spots, and this is one of them.)

Much to my surprise, I could not find a scan of Weston's book anywhere on the web, though it has been out of copyright for some years now. So I borrowed a rather battered and marked up copy of the first edition, scanned it, and put the scan up on www.archive.org a few days ago. It's not a particularly long book.

[personal profile] robertmathiesen 2020-03-02 03:37 pm (UTC)(link)
That he (Waite) was! I find his books useful for the array of sources that he cite, as he was an omnivorous reader. Yet the conclusions he draws from those sources often seem badly flawed.

I, too, am inclined to think that Waite's religious views worked like horse-blinders on the course of his thought. (He was a devout, but rather unconventional Roman Catholic, maybe even a somewhat heretical one. And at times I have wondered whether he indulged himself now and then in a bit of "pia fraus," that is, pious fraud in the service of his faith.)

[personal profile] ill_made_knight 2020-03-01 09:04 am (UTC)(link)
I'm not a regular practitioner of the SOP, I do however do something similar. In what I do, I usually have complimentary movements for each 'station'. The ones I use are mostly of my own making as a result of contemplation for each. There are movements/gestures/poses in some of the above mentioned systems that are tied/related/correspond with the elements/six directions. A routine could be made up of those movements for each, for both the casting and contemplative work.

SOP & Yoga: all good!

(Anonymous) 2020-03-01 02:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Hi, JMG. Interesting research project!

I have been practicing SOP for over 5 years now (funny now that I think of it, I don’t clearly recall when I started it). At the time that I started SOP, I had been practicing Yang-style t'ai chi ch'uan daily for a few years, and after about a year of doing both, the combination manifested poorly for me. I therefore stopped t’ai chi entirely. Then a couple of years ago, I decided to get back into a daily yoga practice: “sun salutations” immediately following SOP early in the morning, and other yoga postures in the evening. (I’m not sure if this is relevant, but my SOP is directed to Hindu gods, which may further harmonize with yoga’s Hindu roots). I have found the SOP/yoga combination to be very harmonious at all levels.

I’m curious to see what the final result of this research will be…


Ron M

[personal profile] grandswamperman 2020-03-01 02:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Is this the system you mentioned a few months ago that uses the Sacred Geometry Oracle?

[personal profile] grandswamperman 2020-03-01 07:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Will the SOP as presented in this system require calling on a specific set of deities or powers?

(Anonymous) 2020-03-01 04:26 pm (UTC)(link)
I do aikido as well as the SoP. My first note is that they seem to draw on a similar set of subtle muscles, and so doing one right before the other makes the later one feel harder: I find it works much better to space them by at least a few hours. In my case, aikido in the morning, SoP in the evening works wonderfully, but others may find different things work for them.

I'd personally recommend doing both to those interested: the relaxation exercises in aikido work wonders for the SoP and meditation; while the SoP makes perceiving and working with ki much easier.

(Anonymous) 2020-03-02 08:36 pm (UTC)(link)
If I may say something slightly off topic. One of the things that has helped me the most so far from reading your work, besides the massive amounts of top-rate information regarding a vast amount of topics, is the way you say it and how you promote politeness. I just had a conversation with someone whose views were as opposite as it can be from mine and I had a wonderful time! I think most of the profanity and snarl-wording has laziness as its source...
open_space

(Anonymous) 2020-03-01 04:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Hi JMG,

Does the occult training that you have in mind exclude softcore magical practices like creative visualization, scrying and divination?

(Anonymous) 2020-03-01 04:42 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yogi Ramacharaka" has a nice book on Hatha Yoga ( http://www.yogebooks.com/english/atkinson/1904-08hathayoga.pdf )

Most likely, this book has nothing much to do with real Hatha Yoga per se, but I'm sure that it is compatible with Western occult training, given the background of its author.

Atkinson "yoga" book

(Anonymous) 2020-03-01 08:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Am I correct that Atkinson's yoga book linked above would be compatible for those working through the DMH? I just need to mentally swap "Western occultist" for the word "yogi" when I read it, and away we go?

(If this is true, then thank you to the person who posted the pdf: I've been looking for something like this for months.)

Re: Atkinson "yoga" book

(Anonymous) 2020-03-02 12:42 pm (UTC)(link)
The Dolmen Arch system has physical exercises?!? My copy is on the way so that is very good news!

(Anonymous) 2020-03-01 08:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Would it be feasible to devise a subtle-body exercise system by modifying ordinary Western physical culture training in accordance with the Western occult philosophy?
causticus: trees (Default)

[personal profile] causticus 2020-03-01 05:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Energetically speaking, what's the difference between traditional Tai Chi and Tai Chi Chih?
causticus: trees (Default)

[personal profile] causticus 2020-03-01 07:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Interesting. So Tai Chi Chih is safe to do alongside SOP?

(Anonymous) 2020-03-01 10:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Is it possible to reconstruct Western subtle-body exercises by using one of the following ways (or both)?

1 - Receiving psychic instruction from some inner plane adepts who had lived before the extinction of these exercises and practiced them.
2 - Studying the visual depiction of body postures in ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman temples.

(Anonymous) 2020-03-02 09:16 am (UTC)(link)
I'm interested in it, but I don't have enough experience in astral workings.

(Anonymous) 2020-03-01 11:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Good evening JMG, This is SundaraYogaShala and I wrote in awhile back about combining various yoga practices with the polytheistic LBRP and the MP. All continues to work out very well and like some of the other commentators I always practice the two with a space of several hours in between and usually something hearty to eat.

A couple of weeks ago on MM someone recommended the book “Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha” by Swami Satyananda Saraswati teaching the Bihar method of yoga. I would like to strongly second that recommendation as an irreplaceable treasure trove of actually useful information. For years I have taught absolute beginners yoga and this is my go-to source. One of the things I like to teach my beginners is to feel and really wrap their heads around the presence of their energy body. The Pawanmuktasana series of mindfulness exercises at the beginning of the book excel at this. They are simple, powerful, easy to remember and anyone can do them. It’s all about linking the breath with the movement and paying attention. For example “padanguli naman” is toe bending...inhale and bend your toes toward you, exhale and bend them away. Fairly quickly they are understanding how our energy body is responsible for the twinkle in our eyes and what feels so good after a good laugh. And from there of course , it’s endless how we can work with the energy body, make it healthier and perhaps move onto to more specific energy work 😉

Also before I had mentioned bringing focused energy into other parts of the body than only the heart center (especially in my ashtanga class!) slowly over time. At the end of every practice I “namaste” and make eye contact with each student and then thank them. Lately after I “namaste” they have begun to spontaneously “namaste” and thank each other 😀. Nice to see some egos coming down and being replaced with a little comraderie.

Your project is very exciting and I look forward to learning more as it progresses Namaste to you fine teacher!

(Anonymous) 2020-03-02 09:12 pm (UTC)(link)
I was the person that submitted that, probably longer than it should've been post recommending the BHY publications trust. As someone currently increasing his yoga training and with increasing interest in occultism as well but with not enough divination skills yet to know if what I do will blow up in my face; if it is ok with JMG to ask this on his journal, would you mind if I contact you to know more about your experience with both? I've been wanting so badly to incorporate a banishing ritual into my daily practice!

open_space
ecosophian: (Default)

[personal profile] ecosophian 2020-03-01 11:56 pm (UTC)(link)
Dear Archdruid,

I don’t have an insightful comment on Eastern exercise systems. But I do want to remark on your comment “Since the core theme of the work is wisdom, rather than power or love (the goals of magic and mysticism respectively) …”.

This trinity: Wisdom, Power and Love immediately reminded me of the myth of the Apple of Discord and the Judgement of Paris, where Paris, Prince of Troy, was appointed by Zeus to select the fairest Goddess among Hera, Athena and Aphrodite. The goddesses attempted to bribe Paris. Hera offered political power; Athena promised infinite wisdom; and Aphrodite tempted him with the most beautiful woman in the world. We all know what Paris chose and how it ended for him and his home city.

I think the chief lesson of this myth is to make us choose one goal in life and focus on achieving it with our limited resources (and mind the consequences). But I also think it’s a bit of a false trichotomy, because you need all three in your life e.g. what’s good in having all the wisdom in the world if you don’t have power to change anything?

So, in reality we all find a balance between these three goals, ending up as a point inside a triangle between these three values. The same goes for all the different schools of occult training. It would be interesting to see a chart of where each school lands. But I don’t have the knowledge to make such a diagram. Still I feel the thought was interesting enough to share it. Thank you for taking the time to read it.

(Anonymous) 2020-03-02 02:29 am (UTC)(link)
Did the overemphasis on ceremonial magic (rather than balanced occultism) in classical Golden Dawn contribute to its fragmentation?

(Anonymous) 2020-03-02 10:47 am (UTC)(link)
Some Rosicrucian orders which pre-date GD had the same degree system, based on the Tree of Life. How did they manage to neutralize the imbalances of tiphareth?

Hatha yoga

(Anonymous) 2020-03-02 04:52 am (UTC)(link)
Dear JMG,
I have practiced hatha yoga for something like 20 years now and the SOP for about five, I think. I have not found any problem doing both.
Maxine

(Anonymous) 2020-03-02 07:36 pm (UTC)(link)
Don't know if this is too late since there's another post up, but I've been doing a daily Sphere of Protection along with a biweekly qigong class every week. So far it's been going great, but then I am a novice at both so who knows. The advice of my qigong teacher when I asked about this was to ask the powers or deities I invoke in the Sphere of Protection for only the level/degree of energy that would be most beneficial and least harmful for me.

(Anonymous) 2020-03-02 10:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks for the response! I've seen in the other comments that you make a distinction between the different forms of Tai Chi based on whether it promotes general improvement in energy flow or whether it works on specific points in the body. I'd like to ask where qigong fits into this spectrum. I've heard that qigong is less martial, but that's about it. Do you think there is a possibility that the SoP and qigong are incompatible and thus could be dangerous? Of course I'm going to continue listening to my own body and making decisions based on that, but it would be good to know if I should be vigilant about possible issues.

(Anonymous) 2020-03-03 05:02 am (UTC)(link)
Not OP, yet more specific question in same vein:
Do you, John (or anyone of the readers here) have a sense wether the most ‘basic’, foundational practices of Qi-gong, i.e. “Standing Like a Tree” (which no doubt also goes by other names with slight variations in posture) is compatible with the SoP? Many thanks for this discussion!

(Anonymous) 2020-03-03 08:30 pm (UTC)(link)
So glad to hear this, thank you!
As that’s the only form I’ve regularly practiced (and found highly effective) am delighted that resuming will work well while slowly beginning to learn SoP. Sounds like Tai Chi Chih may be my cup of tea as well.
One step at a time ;)

~ e Hu

(Anonymous) 2020-03-03 01:25 am (UTC)(link)
Hi JMG,

I do the SOP daily and do yoga 4-6 times a week. In general, I do yoga before the SOP and I notice that on yoga days I tend to be more open and aware of the energies of the SOP than on non-yoga days. The sort of static-electricity feeling in my hands tends to be stronger on yoga days, too. The two seem to work well together for me.

Maria

Karate, SOP

(Anonymous) 2020-03-03 07:26 am (UTC)(link)
I've done Shotokan Karate and the SOP, both about twice weekly for a few months. So by no means super intensive, but I've noticed zero interaction between them.

Before that I spent quite some time doing the 9 Hazels qi gong and the SOP daily. The 9 Hazels seems to increase the effects of the SOP, and I used it as warm-up before doing it.

Just one data point, but there it is.

Kind regards,
Brigyn

Re: Karate, SOP

(Anonymous) 2020-03-04 04:16 pm (UTC)(link)
If I may, I second the comment about 9 Hazels qigong and the SOP. I’ve done the 9 Hazels directly before the SOP and felt that it enhanced the SOP. I’ve tried a 5-element qigong sequence before SOP and found it pretty neutral--no help, no hindrance.
I had some chat with Adam Robersmith about this on the AODA forum, and he specifically designed the 9 Hazels to be balanced in terms of yin and yang energy currents. It may just take trial and error to find out which qigong sequences will help and which could harm. I like qigong very much and would hate to give it up.
One of my main TSW experiences was actually an unpleasant interaction between the SOP and other energy experiences I had one weekend. I had attended a kundalini yoga class one Saturday morning, then a “gong meditation” experience on Sunday morning where someone played a large gong for an extended time. It may have been a couple days later that I did the SOP, and when I got to Spirit Below I began to feel really nauseous and dizzy. If I even thought about continuing to Spirit Above the feeling got worse, and I was sure I was about to toss my cookies. So I stopped the SOP, and recovered pretty quickly. Since then, I’ve done the SOP with no problem--but I haven’t done either kundalini yoga or anything involving loud, extended vibrations such as a gong.

Karate and LRM

(Anonymous) 2020-03-04 12:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Hello!

How about interactions between LRM and eastern movement arts? Is that of any relevance.

Thanks!

Re: Karate and LRM

(Anonymous) 2020-03-05 06:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Hello

I have been practicing karate for a number of years now and also LRM rituals.

I never found anything conflicting about both sets. But note I am an average student!!!!!

Regards

(Anonymous) 2020-03-05 12:07 am (UTC)(link)
Here is an interesting research on the relations between Taoism and Western esotericism:
http://www.esoteric.msu.edu/VolumeVI/Dao.htm

(Anonymous) 2020-03-13 08:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Before I continue, I'm reminded of the old joke: how many tai chi students does it take to change a light bulb? Ten... One to change the bulb and the other nine to say, "that's not how my instructor taught me to do it".

I'm not sure, John. I've learned tai chi - I've won medals and trophies performing it - and I feel that maybe there was something wrong with the way you were taught (cue joke above). I consider myself a Taoist martial tai chi practitioner, which means I'm learning with a specific goal in mind. I have no ken with the more flowy, "wushu" type tai chi that one sees in most tournaments and YouTube videos :D. The (adapted) Yang style I practise is very specific and its principles mirror very much what Justin Stone seems to say, except for that finger fluttering, which is very disturbing to me. I don't want to bore your readers, but the hand movement isn't just a hand movement, there's still the potential for, and understanding of, movement even when the hand is still. For me, the fluttering implies a "LACK of flow" of chi, a blockage if you will, which is easily solved with the right mindset driving the right physical movements. I'm sorry, but that's the best I can do...it's difficult to explain in words.

Having said all that, I learnt that what I was doing was very much "Tai Chi Chuan + Qi Gong" (almost 30 years' practice) and not this Tai Chi Chih variant. I haven't felt any contradiction with the SoP (14 months' practice, still early days). My pantheon is Greek but with Taoist deities for Spirit Below/Above/Within and I have felt some response from them, so don't believe I'm meandering down a dead alley here.

Of course the Tai Chi I practise isn't "pure", if one can define what that actually means after all this time. But it harks back to the original purpose of Tai Chi, which is a very effective martial art. I was fortunate in having an incredibly gifted sifu, who combined high intellect and "breath" with the kind of streetwise smarts one can only wish for. I doubt I'll see his ilk again. (This one's for you, Keemo.)

(Anonymous) 2020-03-15 08:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Nice video, thanks for that. :)

Okinawan Karate and the SoP

[identity profile] fudoshindotcom.wordpress.com 2020-03-20 09:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Apologies for the late response, JMG.

While it never came up in discussion during my time in the Dolmen Arch course, I experienced a distinct conflict between the SoP ritual and my karate practice which wasn't immediately apparent.

This dissonance became more overt as my spiritual practice evolved until, after receiving ordination in the GCC, I was compelled to discontinue martial arts training entirely.

Off the top of my head I would say the dissonance resulted from a difference in the intentionality with which energy is projected.

Having practiced Okinawan karate for the better part of four decades I feel qualified to say that though containing a solid philosophy of non-aggression, physical techniques are trained with the intent to cause injury. In fact, in the system I studied, blocks were meant to injure the attacking limb preventing further attack.

This is far different from the SoP, which I understand as creating a barrier that simply redirects any imbalanced or
negative influence contacting it.

Until now I had thought the decision to stop karate training had solely to do with a change in my personal life philosophy and the desire to leave the violence of earlier years behind me. Perhaps there is more to it than that.

Anyway, I hope this is of some use to you and if you have any questions please feel free to email me at vdc9119@aol.com.

Equinox Blessings,
Will

Friend of mine

(Anonymous) 2020-09-18 06:36 am (UTC)(link)
who is a very serious Thelemic mage was also very serious traditional tai-chi student (also good enough to spar with it against other styles, I've seen videos of him doing so, so it's not hearsay.) Seems to have worked out fine for him, though it is also true he hasn't practiced tai chi regularly in years. But he was doing both at the same time for many years, and those were the years he was doing his primary intiatory work as a mage.

Greetings

(Anonymous) 2021-05-03 09:54 am (UTC)(link)
Dear JMG,

You'd mentioned one of the reasons for body dysmorphia could be the increase in population causing more rapid rebirth, causing people to get confused.

I'm just wondering that for this to be true, dysmorphia should be more or less equally prevalent across the world, as people are being born all the time, but it seems to be related to culture. It makes me think it is more of an astral phenomenon? As the ideas spread to other cultures, dysmorphia becomes more common there too.