One of the main reasons that I decided to join this forum was the fact that there were folks here posting "practical" tutorials and articles (You know who you are!) 
I had incorporated elements of Jason Miller's Strategic Sorcery System into my practice since it was made available around 2006 because it was relatively seamless with other elements like the PGM that I had incorporated. The system was also 'practical and solid" in my opinion, good additions to my fine tuned practice.
So when I saw the excellent presentation of Jason Miller's "Banishing Rite of Hekas" by @Mart here:
I thought to myself let's see what I can do here too. So in that spirit here's what I consider to be another one of those "fundamental pieces" of Jason Miller's Strategic Sorcery system, this time from his "The Sorcerer's Secrets" and since revised "Real Sorcery".
The Exercise of the Pillar and Spheres:
This exercise is designed to assist you in channeling power through your body and breaking it down into different patterns, in this case the five elements.
The four classical elements are of course fire, air, water, and earth. To these a fifth is often added called “Spirit” or “Space.” Personally, I find both terms to be somewhat limiting and prefer to use the old alchemical term “Azoth” for the fifth element, which should be understood to have connotations of consciousness pervading all space. Azoth can be thought of almost as clear light, which when it hits a prism, divides up into lights of various colors. The more complex the prism,
the more varied the colors. In this case, we break Azoth down into the four classical elements, but could just as easily break it down into the seven planetary energies, three gunas, and so on.
The following exercise establishes a column of energy in the body that flows between the Ouranic or heavenly realms above, and the Chthonic or underworld realms below. The descending energy is purifying, symbolized by the dove. The ascending energy is atavistic and vitalizing, symbolized by the serpent. After the column is established we break the elements down into five centers or spheres in the body. The locations of the elements in the body are taken from Tibetan exercises, and while they do correspond to various chakra points, you should resist the temptation to view this exercise in the light of other Chakra exercises that you may know until you have mastered it in its own right.
The Pillar:
This exercise can be done sitting or standing and both positions should eventually be mastered. In either case, the back should be held as straight as possible and you should again center yourself with a Vase (from the Diaphragm) breaths and perform the Universal Centering exercise from the last chapter.
The UNIVERSAL CENTERING EXERCISE:
The Universal Centering is as much of a meditation as it is a gesture. It's simplicity and ease of practice do not take away from its power. It is a quick and efficient method of identifying with Deity and putting you into a position of Spiritual Power and Authority. It is as powerful as any invocation at doing so.
Sit or stand with your back straight. Make a fist with your left hand and place it over your heart. Cover it with your right hand and apply about five pounds of pressure to bring the vital energies of the body into the Central Channel near the heart. Perform the Vase Breath and consider your heart to be the very center of your being. Close your eyes and consider that your heart is the very center of the universe. Do not imagine that you are somewhere else, but that you are the center around which all creation revolves.
Just as our perception that the sun revolves around the earth is destroyed by taking a larger perspective from space, consider that from the ultimate perspective the Whole Cosmos revolves around the Seed of Spirit in the Heart. Do not think that you are fooling yourself in this.
You are in fact revealing a spiritual, if not Cosmological, truth. With practice, you might feel the heart center vibrate with life, the physical manifestation of the wakened Logos. If you utter a divine name, such as IAO, after this gesture, you will find it possesses an added punch.
Take a deep inhalation and imagine that above you, emanating from the highest heavens descends a column of pure white light. This light enters the crown of your head and passes through you, down into the ground. This white light is enabling and purifying.
Exhale and intone the following: "Decendat columba!" (the descent of the dove)
Take another deep inhalation and imagine that a reddish colored light from beneath you rises through the column and passes through you upwards. Whereas the white light was purifying, this light is vivifying. As the descending light was ennobling, this energy is atavistic.
Exhale and intone the following: "Ascendat serpens!" (the ascent of the serpent)
Inhale and feel the two energies entering into you from above and below. Exhale and feel the two energies flow throughout your body, impregnating every cell of your being with their power. Feel your connection between earth and sky, underworld and heavens.
The Spheres:
Now turn your attention to the crown of your head. Imagine an empty sphere that extends above and inside your physical head.
Breathe in and see a clear energy fill this sphere. It corresponds to the element AZOTH and brings increased clarity and spacial awareness.
Sound the name: "IAO" (EE AH OH) to activate the sphere of AZOTH or SPIRIT.
Move the mind downward and see a sphere at the throat.
Breathe in an airy bright yellow energy that feels warm and wet like humid air and moves about rapidly within the sphere.
Sound the name: "IAO" again to activate the sphere of AIR.
Move the mind downward again to a sphere at the heart.
Breathe in a deep blue energy that feels cool and wet and fluid.
Sound the name: "IAO" again to activate the sphere of WATER.
Move the mind downward to a sphere just below and behind the navel near the base of the spine.
Breathe a red, hot, dry, and expansive energy into this sphere.
Sound again the name: "IAO" again to activate the sphere of FIRE.
Move the mind downward again to the Perineum between the legs, behind the genitals.
See a dark green / brown / black earth-tone energy that is dense, cool, and dry filling the sphere.
Sound the name: "IAO" once again to activate the sphere of EARTH.
Rest the mind a few minutes and contemplate the elements within the body.
The purpose of this exercise is first to energize the central and most important energy channel of the body that runs from the crown of the head to the genital area, by relating it to the universal axis of spirit descending and ascending. Then we balance the five elements along the channel which not only mends energetic imbalances that can cause various physical and emotional ills, but sets them up in a Specific Alchemical order. You could imagine the classical view of a witch’s cauldron or alchemical vial within the body. The earth is the ground that the fire is built upon. The fire boils the water in the cauldron or vial above it. The boiled water releases
steam into the air. The steam ascends to the heavens and dissipates into space. There is an array of internal energy exercises that can be built upon this pattern, but for now, it is enough to master the method and be able to isolate and manipulate the different elements that you want to work with. Once you have the exercise down you can practice moving different energies around the body through the force of will and breath. Move them up the back and down the front, or from side to side. Focus on concentrating different elements into the hands or feet. Eventually you should practice projecting them outward into objects or even impregnating whole rooms with a specific element. Link this practice to the breathing techniques from the previous chapter and experiment.
You will find endless applications. If you practice the Pillar and Spheres daily I can almost guarantee that you will feel a difference in a very short time. People that use this and other exercises like it begin to feel the pillar as surely as they do their own spine, even to the point that their posture changes naturally because the energies make holding the body straight more comfortable than slouching.
Miller bases his diagram on a yoga asana named the Saddhasana basically the "half-lotus" for those who don't like, or other wise don't want to use the Padmasana or "full-lotus".
A sitting position, often called the Egyptian sitting "god" position with back straight works well. The standing "Middle Pillar" posture is recommended as well, to decide which is the best fit.
Siddhasana:
Since this is "excerpted" from a book, and there isn't room to fully add all the info leading up to this excellent and "fundamental" exercise, let me add here that Miller's terminology "vase breath" is merely breathing from the "Diaphragm", filling the lungs from the "bottom up", to be clear.
There are other variations of the "Middle Pillar" that have different elements ascribed to a particular sphere. This is true of Both Israel Regardiein "The Art of True Healing" (Highly Recommended) and also Ike Baker in "Aetheric Magic" (also Highly Recommended).
What Miller is doing here is modeling an "alchemical" process as he sees it.
Ike Baker describes a similar process as well, and I'm working on That tutorial right now, ain't nothing like "multi-tasking"!
I had incorporated elements of Jason Miller's Strategic Sorcery System into my practice since it was made available around 2006 because it was relatively seamless with other elements like the PGM that I had incorporated. The system was also 'practical and solid" in my opinion, good additions to my fine tuned practice.
So when I saw the excellent presentation of Jason Miller's "Banishing Rite of Hekas" by @Mart here:
I thought to myself let's see what I can do here too. So in that spirit here's what I consider to be another one of those "fundamental pieces" of Jason Miller's Strategic Sorcery system, this time from his "The Sorcerer's Secrets" and since revised "Real Sorcery".
The Exercise of the Pillar and Spheres:
This exercise is designed to assist you in channeling power through your body and breaking it down into different patterns, in this case the five elements.
The four classical elements are of course fire, air, water, and earth. To these a fifth is often added called “Spirit” or “Space.” Personally, I find both terms to be somewhat limiting and prefer to use the old alchemical term “Azoth” for the fifth element, which should be understood to have connotations of consciousness pervading all space. Azoth can be thought of almost as clear light, which when it hits a prism, divides up into lights of various colors. The more complex the prism,
the more varied the colors. In this case, we break Azoth down into the four classical elements, but could just as easily break it down into the seven planetary energies, three gunas, and so on.
The following exercise establishes a column of energy in the body that flows between the Ouranic or heavenly realms above, and the Chthonic or underworld realms below. The descending energy is purifying, symbolized by the dove. The ascending energy is atavistic and vitalizing, symbolized by the serpent. After the column is established we break the elements down into five centers or spheres in the body. The locations of the elements in the body are taken from Tibetan exercises, and while they do correspond to various chakra points, you should resist the temptation to view this exercise in the light of other Chakra exercises that you may know until you have mastered it in its own right.
The Pillar:
This exercise can be done sitting or standing and both positions should eventually be mastered. In either case, the back should be held as straight as possible and you should again center yourself with a Vase (from the Diaphragm) breaths and perform the Universal Centering exercise from the last chapter.
The UNIVERSAL CENTERING EXERCISE:
The Universal Centering is as much of a meditation as it is a gesture. It's simplicity and ease of practice do not take away from its power. It is a quick and efficient method of identifying with Deity and putting you into a position of Spiritual Power and Authority. It is as powerful as any invocation at doing so.
Sit or stand with your back straight. Make a fist with your left hand and place it over your heart. Cover it with your right hand and apply about five pounds of pressure to bring the vital energies of the body into the Central Channel near the heart. Perform the Vase Breath and consider your heart to be the very center of your being. Close your eyes and consider that your heart is the very center of the universe. Do not imagine that you are somewhere else, but that you are the center around which all creation revolves.
Just as our perception that the sun revolves around the earth is destroyed by taking a larger perspective from space, consider that from the ultimate perspective the Whole Cosmos revolves around the Seed of Spirit in the Heart. Do not think that you are fooling yourself in this.
You are in fact revealing a spiritual, if not Cosmological, truth. With practice, you might feel the heart center vibrate with life, the physical manifestation of the wakened Logos. If you utter a divine name, such as IAO, after this gesture, you will find it possesses an added punch.
Take a deep inhalation and imagine that above you, emanating from the highest heavens descends a column of pure white light. This light enters the crown of your head and passes through you, down into the ground. This white light is enabling and purifying.
Exhale and intone the following: "Decendat columba!" (the descent of the dove)
Take another deep inhalation and imagine that a reddish colored light from beneath you rises through the column and passes through you upwards. Whereas the white light was purifying, this light is vivifying. As the descending light was ennobling, this energy is atavistic.
Exhale and intone the following: "Ascendat serpens!" (the ascent of the serpent)
Inhale and feel the two energies entering into you from above and below. Exhale and feel the two energies flow throughout your body, impregnating every cell of your being with their power. Feel your connection between earth and sky, underworld and heavens.
The Spheres:
Now turn your attention to the crown of your head. Imagine an empty sphere that extends above and inside your physical head.
Breathe in and see a clear energy fill this sphere. It corresponds to the element AZOTH and brings increased clarity and spacial awareness.
Sound the name: "IAO" (EE AH OH) to activate the sphere of AZOTH or SPIRIT.
Move the mind downward and see a sphere at the throat.
Breathe in an airy bright yellow energy that feels warm and wet like humid air and moves about rapidly within the sphere.
Sound the name: "IAO" again to activate the sphere of AIR.
Move the mind downward again to a sphere at the heart.
Breathe in a deep blue energy that feels cool and wet and fluid.
Sound the name: "IAO" again to activate the sphere of WATER.
Move the mind downward to a sphere just below and behind the navel near the base of the spine.
Breathe a red, hot, dry, and expansive energy into this sphere.
Sound again the name: "IAO" again to activate the sphere of FIRE.
Move the mind downward again to the Perineum between the legs, behind the genitals.
See a dark green / brown / black earth-tone energy that is dense, cool, and dry filling the sphere.
Sound the name: "IAO" once again to activate the sphere of EARTH.
Rest the mind a few minutes and contemplate the elements within the body.
The purpose of this exercise is first to energize the central and most important energy channel of the body that runs from the crown of the head to the genital area, by relating it to the universal axis of spirit descending and ascending. Then we balance the five elements along the channel which not only mends energetic imbalances that can cause various physical and emotional ills, but sets them up in a Specific Alchemical order. You could imagine the classical view of a witch’s cauldron or alchemical vial within the body. The earth is the ground that the fire is built upon. The fire boils the water in the cauldron or vial above it. The boiled water releases
steam into the air. The steam ascends to the heavens and dissipates into space. There is an array of internal energy exercises that can be built upon this pattern, but for now, it is enough to master the method and be able to isolate and manipulate the different elements that you want to work with. Once you have the exercise down you can practice moving different energies around the body through the force of will and breath. Move them up the back and down the front, or from side to side. Focus on concentrating different elements into the hands or feet. Eventually you should practice projecting them outward into objects or even impregnating whole rooms with a specific element. Link this practice to the breathing techniques from the previous chapter and experiment.
You will find endless applications. If you practice the Pillar and Spheres daily I can almost guarantee that you will feel a difference in a very short time. People that use this and other exercises like it begin to feel the pillar as surely as they do their own spine, even to the point that their posture changes naturally because the energies make holding the body straight more comfortable than slouching.
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Miller bases his diagram on a yoga asana named the Saddhasana basically the "half-lotus" for those who don't like, or other wise don't want to use the Padmasana or "full-lotus".
A sitting position, often called the Egyptian sitting "god" position with back straight works well. The standing "Middle Pillar" posture is recommended as well, to decide which is the best fit.
Post automatically merged:
Siddhasana:
Post automatically merged:
Since this is "excerpted" from a book, and there isn't room to fully add all the info leading up to this excellent and "fundamental" exercise, let me add here that Miller's terminology "vase breath" is merely breathing from the "Diaphragm", filling the lungs from the "bottom up", to be clear.
There are other variations of the "Middle Pillar" that have different elements ascribed to a particular sphere. This is true of Both Israel Regardiein "The Art of True Healing" (Highly Recommended) and also Ike Baker in "Aetheric Magic" (also Highly Recommended).
What Miller is doing here is modeling an "alchemical" process as he sees it.
Ike Baker describes a similar process as well, and I'm working on That tutorial right now, ain't nothing like "multi-tasking"!
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