[Opinion] The Foundational Principles of Franz Bardon's System

[Angelkesfarl]

Franz Bardon’s magical system, primarily laid out in Initiation into Hermetics (IIH), is unique for its rigorous, systematic, and purely experiential approach. It deviates significantly from ceremonial or religious magical structures by focusing entirely on self-development and the mastery of the universal elements.

The Core Tenets are:

Elemental Polarity (The Law of Analogy): All creation is driven by the interaction of the four traditional elements (Fire, Air, Water, Earth), plus the fifth—the Akasha Principle (the Divine Ether). The initial training involves balancing these elements within the mind (Spirit), soul (Astral Body), and physical body.

Mental and Astral Discipline: The system demands complete mastery over the mind and feelings before any physical magical work is attempted. Techniques include:

Thought Control: Achieving a 'mental vacuum' where no thoughts spontaneously arise.

Sense Transcendence: The ability to visualize and experience elements internally (e.g., feeling the heat of fire within the body).

The Magician as a Microcosm: The practitioner is viewed as a miniature reflection of the Universe (the Macrocosm). True magical power is gained by achieving complete elemental and mental balance, thus restoring the magician to their divine status as a ruler over the elements.

Direct Magick (Elemental Condensers): Bardon views magick not as petitioning spirits, but as the application of concentrated elemental force. This is done by accumulating energy (light, heat, feeling) and projecting it without intermediaries.

In essence, Bardon structured Hermetics as a precise Science of Self-Perfection, where the development of the soul's power precedes, and dictates, all external operations.

 

[Beyond Everything]

Bardon is pretty overrated. While it appears he did have some abilities, he also was in poor health & was helpless to do anything about it (despite all the grandiose claims made in his books). As well, if you're attuned enough, you can pick up a 'heaviness' from his photos. He didn't have access to higher initiatic truths despite all the accolades heaped upon him.

 

[Angelkesfarl]

Greetings, my friend,

I completely understand your critical viewpoint regarding Bardon—it is a common perspective among seekers who note the contradiction between the magnificent theory and the failing human application.

The Principle of Separating the Legislator from the Law
Allow me to remind you of a fundamental point in our spiritual path:

The Law does not fail; the individual might: Whether Bardon was in poor health or not, the Five Elemental Principles he established are not personal inventions; they are Cosmic Laws tied to the fundamental structure of the universe. An individual's failure to perfectly apply the Law does not invalidate the Law itself.

Value Lies in Methodology: The true significance of Bardon's system is not found in his personal health results, but in his insistence on methodological rigor and his demand for complete Internal Elemental Control (The Soul) before attempting to control the External Element (Nature). This provides a definitive barrier against magical charlatanry and unfounded claims.

Focus on the Structure: We must move away from critiquing human shortcomings and focus on the constant value: Bardon provided a structural system that allows the Magician to understand their Microcosm. This internal foundation is the necessary first step before delving into the Greater Mathematical Geometry that governs the external world (as in our own sciences).

Therefore, let us discuss the strength of the Akasha concept or the Mastery of the Mental Vacuum, rather than judging a personal photograph that may not reflect the entire truth.

 

[Beyond Everything]

The Principle of Separating the Legislator from the Law

I don't at all agree that this analogy is applicable here. A better one is, don't separate the dietician from the diet. If they can't obtain health from their diet, that is evidence the diet they propose is flawed.

 

[mag1caljeet]

Bardon is pretty overrated. While it appears he did have some abilities, he also was in poor health & was helpless to do anything about it (despite all the grandiose claims made in his books). As well, if you're attuned enough, you can pick up a 'heaviness' from his photos. He didn't have access to higher initiatic truths despite all the accolades heaped upon him.

is there a better system to follow? and what allows you to say this?

 

[Angelkesfarl]

I don't at all agree that this analogy is applicable here. A better one is, don't separate the dietician from the diet. If they can't obtain health from their diet, that is evidence the diet they propose is flawed.

The Law is not dependent on his dietary regimen; we can avoid it and search for better nutritional systems. However, I find that his system is the closest in accurately describing mental interpretation and self-control using the Akashic Records (Akasha Chronicles). Do you agree with me?

 

[Beyond Everything]

The Law is not dependent on his dietary regimen; we can avoid it and search for better nutritional systems. However, I find that his system is the closest in accurately describing mental interpretation and self-control using the Akashic Records (Akasha Chronicles). Do you agree with me?

I said it was an analogy. You didn't understand. The 'diet' was all his proposed esoteric practices (which included things for health and claims of healing)

I haven't seen amazing accomplishments from his devoted acolytes.

He made massive claims (such as concocting the philosophers stone using the help spirits and letters) that he didn't live up to. I judge a system by the person propagating it. What results did they or didn't they get? To judge it by some abstract belief in eternal verities is a good way to kid yourself. Most occultists hate this, I've discovered over many years, but wtf else should one look at?

Post automatically merged: Saturday at 1:43 AM

is there a better system to follow? and what allows you to say this?

What allows me to say this? lol I looked at the documented facts of his life, I have looked at public occultists who follow his teachings, I have personally observed people devoted to his practices, I have used my own brain, I have used my own intuition.

 

[Angelkesfarl]

"I believe he is a man who practiced greatly and stirred up a wide controversy among all esoteric scholars, and his school is concerned with Contact. However, I see from your writings that even though he explains the Law in his books, his results are neither strong nor documented.

I agree with you that for magic to work well, there must be a metaphysical connection with other entities that assist you in penetration (or breakthrough) and in manifesting results, just as the priests in Ancient Egypt had real, extraordinary acts.

What he said—or what the man says—is similar to what those priests did? They were effectively able to change the form of inanimate matter into a living form; some of this was achieved through the manipulation of chemical properties in that early time, and others through contact with magical entities that led them to change one state of matter to another, which we call Optical Illusions or Sympathy/Alchemy (al-Sīmiyā').

Where you can turn pebbles into sugar and glass into jewels. I know people who have actually done this, but the matter returns to its original form after a maximum period—the longest I witnessed success was 40 days, after which the glass crystals returned. These were measured afterwards and confirmed to have been transformed into real, natural diamonds for 40 days, but they reverted to their initial state. These are not just folk tales, but real, factual visions involving real people.

As for the man's claims, perhaps certain spirits were using him to propagate a certain knowledge for a specific agenda they desired, and his claims about Akasha are, if you observe, similar to everyone's claims of reaching a divine source... Do you agree with me or disagree? Please reply.

 

[taschr]

I have great appreciation for IIH. I don't think we can point at the sparse details we have from Bardon's personal life as an indictment of its effectiveness. Few of us have lived through the hardships and oppression that he suffered. What he is teaching with the elemental work is fundamentally Tibetan esotericism that requires a monastic retreat lifestyle to approach the states of concentration needed and whether he himself was capable of all of the feats that he teaches seems irrelevant. Agrippa appears to have been more of a compiler and archivist than anything and much of his writing on nature is blatantly misinformed when compared with our understanding today, and yet there is still wisdom within his writing that can be put into practice in effective ways.

Personally, I have had few experiences that match the visceral, primal feeling of elemental accumulation as taught by Bardon. Feeling the weight of the earth element build to such extremes that it feels as if one will crush oneself underneath the pressure, where even one's own breathing becomes restricted, is hard to simply hand wave away.

Faithfully engaging with what he teaches in the first few practices would leave anyone in a better position to advance their magical practice in whichever way they see fit.

 

[Beyond Everything]

Few of us have lived through the hardships and oppression that he suffered.

His ill health preceded his political persecutions, so I'm not sure what your point there is. Speaking of which, I see none of the spirits who fortell the future had the courtesy to tell him emigration would be a smart idea lol Nor did the letters he said provide such perfect guidance and clairvoyance avail him to make the kind of moves others did to avoid such things. I think it's entirely fair to look at claims made in books versus actual results. To not do so is approaching the level of a religious zombie's blind faith.

 

[taschr]

To not do so is approaching the level of a religious zombie's blind faith.

That is fair enough, I merely make the point that if we are to dismiss writings based on the faults of their authors, we will not have many teachings left to look at and that wisdom can be found in all places.

 

[ragingmagus]

Maybe i took him too literally, but had Initiation into Hermetics 25 years ago. He says something like dont proceed until you can do this perfectly, regarding keeping a perfect clear mind for a bascially indefinite period. I revisited it numerous times over the years, but would always fall away there. Since using other teachings i have progresses a lot in my occult studies, but clear mind for an indefinite period is something i could still not muster consistently.

 

[Sabbatius]

Few people I know who have moved beyond Initiation Into Hermetics will not tell or share anything about their successes and failures.

Personally, I am one who will recommend Initiation Into Hermetics to those who wish to delve into the Hermetic Mysteries.

 

[cormundum]

IIH is good for some things and worthless for others. I do not think somebody who goes through that program will end up with any more mystical or magickal achievements than somebody who takes any spirituo-religious system seriously. Honestly you'd probably get more out of adopting a Catholic monastic life or become Hasidic or something over doing Bardon's system.

 

[Robert Ramsay]

I don't have any knowledge of Bardon's system, but it's worth remembering that no magical system is 'one size fits all' and what may be perfect for one person may be completely useless to another. The problem comes when someone starts hawking their system as absolute truth ('one size fits all'). At that point, they have mistaken the map for the territory.

 

[AlfrunGrima]

I don't have any knowledge of Bardon's system, but it's worth remembering that no magical system is 'one size fits all' and what may be perfect for one person may be completely useless to another. The problem comes when someone starts hawking their system as absolute truth ('one size fits all'). At that point, they have mistaken the map for the territory.

I highly agree with that. Every person is different in psyche, different in what happened in their life, different in what they inherit from parents, grandparents and the community, which makes that they have an unique combination of ideas, emotions and timelines intertwined in their life. This makes that everyone needs another map..... hence on that map everyone even choose another road. Like they say here in the Netherlands: there are many roads leading to Rome. But I don't know if that saying even exists in English.

 

[Robert Ramsay]

there are many roads leading to Rome. But I don't know if that saying even exists in English.

In English it's normally 'All roads lead to Rome', and it's from 1175

 

[Angelkesfarl]

"All roads lead to Rome, even if you sail the sea..! Looking at the essence of its operations, I believe it is very useful for strengthening the esoteric spirit within a human being. Who agrees with me on that?"

 

[Elementriloquist]

Maybe i took him too literally, but had Initiation into Hermetics 25 years ago. He says something like dont proceed until you can do this perfectly, regarding keeping a perfect clear mind for a bascially indefinite period. I revisited it numerous times over the years, but would always fall away there. Since using other teachings i have progresses a lot in my occult studies, but clear mind for an indefinite period is something i could still not muster consistently.

Lol, I'm laughing because I myself am stuck on that level but I haven't been at it for 25 years so you just made the task sound even more daunting. It's so damn difficult but it seems so essential too. Almost all other systems I've looked into, at some point expect you to gain the ability to focus on a single thing for an extended period without any mental distractions/interruptions. It's more like Bardon places that directly at the start almost to "get it out of the way". Still love the system, practicing and researching other things, but pretty much every other thing I'm practicing and researching is ultimately focused on some ability I believe could be utliized towards mastering that concentration exercise. Also, it isn't an indefinite period, just 10 minutes.

Also wondering if I misinterpreted what exercise you were talking about, just noticed you said "clear the mind" rather than "concentrate the mind", so maybe you've moved past what I'm stuck on (dharana) and you are stuck on the next part (dhyana). I'm assuming it should feel a lot easier if you've mastered the dharana part. If you can focus your mind in a single thing for 10 minutes without interruption, then you should atleast be able to clear your mind completely for 30 seconds (I'd assume).

Since using other teachings i have progresses a lot in my occult studies

What other teachings?

Honestly you'd probably get more out of adopting a Catholic monastic life or become Hasidic or something over doing Bardon's system.

You are using a very subjective "personal definition" of the word "more".

is there a better system to follow?

Also interested in something else to possibly test.

What allows me to say this?

Honestly want to know what alternative(s) you would recommend.

On another note, Crowley was born into wealth and priviledge and ultimately died a poverty stricken drug addict. He is still celebrated and heralded as a great magician and there are likely still dedicated Thelemites.

Bardon allegedly died from pancreatitis while imprisoned by his government for for publishing occult materials. And prior to that he was allegedly imprisoned in a Nazi camp for refusing to perform occult rituals at their request.

I mean, all round he just has a more respectable story and ending than Crowley, so why would anyone judge Bardon anymore strictly than we see others judging Crowley. I never really see Crowley being criticized or looked down upon in any occult spaces and his ending was terrible and he wasted the priviledge he was born into.

I looked at the documented facts of his life, I have looked at public occultists who follow his teachings, I have personally observed people devoted to his practices, I have used my own brain, I have used my own intuition.

I have two questions:
1. Previously mentioned - the alternative(s) you'd recommend?
2. The outcomes of the progenitor(s) of the alternative(s) and how they differ from others like Bardon (and how did the outcomes of their students differ too)?

If there is a better path that I am ignorant of I'd definitely want to know about it.

 

[AlfrunGrima]

Almost all other systems I've looked into, at some point expect you to gain the ability to focus on a single thing for an extended period without any mental distractions/interruptions. It's more like Bardon places that directly at the start almost to "get it out of the way".

Yes, that is really a good thing because it is so essential for almost everything later on. (There are some fun and creative ways to learn that, don't know if there is already a topic about it. Would be to much off topic for this discussion)