Reached a plateau

[Dominus Lux]

Hello!

I started off doing LBRP etc and had visualisations of the four quarters, ie pentagram and archangels etc. Now it appears that after some time, this visualistation are null and void now.

Is there a possibility that
A. I have not actually lost the ability to visualise but have been accustomed to them and need to make my visualisations more elaborate?
B. That I have done something wrong and I cannot receive visualisations any more

My final question which takes a different spin:

The tree of life... what paths does one actually need to take? What is the correct way to go along the Tree of Life or the Great work. Which place does one start from?

Many Thanks!

 

[Diluculo_DelFuego]

Hello!

I started off doing LBRP etc and had visualisations of the four quarters, ie pentagram and archangels etc. Now it appears that after some time, this visualistation are null and void now.

Is there a possibility that
A. I have not actually lost the ability to visualise but have been accustomed to them and need to make my visualisations more elaborate?
B. That I have done something wrong and I cannot receive visualisations any more

My final question which takes a different spin:

The tree of life... what paths does one actually need to take? What is the correct way to go along the Tree of Life or the Great work. Which place does one start from?

Many Thanks!

It could be depression. Or an inherited enemy. Both gave me the exact same issue. I recommend getting depression under control, spend more time just meditating on the image and see if deep seated thoughts on them or against them arise.
The middle Pillar is recommended as a general approach to the tree of life, but the correct answer is all of it.

 

[Noth]

Hello!

I started off doing LBRP etc and had visualisations of the four quarters, ie pentagram and archangels etc. Now it appears that after some time, this visualistation are null and void now.

Is there a possibility that
A. I have not actually lost the ability to visualise but have been accustomed to them and need to make my visualisations more elaborate?
B. That I have done something wrong and I cannot receive visualisations any more

My final question which takes a different spin:

The tree of life... what paths does one actually need to take? What is the correct way to go along the Tree of Life or the Great work. Which place does one start from?

Many Thanks!

I can't speak much on the Tree question.

But from my early work with LBRP and other rituals where visualization was important I can say this:

You haven't done anything wrong (I mean unless you were trying to offend, but I don't think you were.) Many times, especially earlier on we kind of, "get used" to rituals we spend a lot of time with. This is likely down to repeating the same phrases and gestures that it becomes rote presentation, and thus spiritually dead.

I'd try mixing it up a bit. Try LBRPs at different times, or spend time working yourself into a different emotional state and see what happens.

You'll find that the spirits were there, it's just the connection on your line was fuzzy.

 

[8Lou1]

The tree of life as in your body asks to get to know it. The tree of life in soul asks to combine it. The tree of life in spirit wants you to ejoy it.

How? Listen to your body. Listen to your heart. Dare to change.

 

[Jk666]

Maybe try to mix it up with different rituals:
for me combing RHP with LHP rituals helps to keep things interesting

 

[stalkinghyena]

Is there a possibility that
A. I have not actually lost the ability to visualise but have been accustomed to them and need to make my visualisations more elaborate?

I don't think trying to make the visualizations more elaborate is necessary so long as you understand the essence of what you have seen. Do the pentagrams need to blaze or is it enough that you have firmly stated an intention with a symbolic gesture of drawing it in the air. What is more important: what Raphael looks like, whether he is wearing a yellow robe, has a beard or is clean shaven, carries a caduceus or something else; or what Raphael feels like, his "presence" and, in the context of the LBRP, his function as protector in his assigned quarter?

B. That I have done something wrong and I cannot receive visualisations any more

One thing you might consider is that if you are a magician, then visualizations - while they may be "received" - are ultimately at your command. You conjure them with your operations. There is give and take, of course. With certain styles of ritual magic, such as GD, the mental gymnastics you are expected to perform can almost seem like putting the cart before the horse. One can spend so much mental energy on "doing it correctly" that the original intention of the ritual may be lost in a daze of disinterest once the initial inspiration is gone.
Also, consider that whenever the mind tries to accomplish something, there is always a little itching nag of an instinct that says: "Bullshit." It can kill a lot of energy once it finds is niche. Fighting it can even make it stronger. I view it as a manifestation of a principle of becoming: for everything that arises in the universe - including our minds and actions - the opposite is sure to follow if it not waiting in ambush. A lot of this work is like pushing water upstream, and can take a lifetime of struggle.
But intensity in following exercises to the letter have their benefits, even after they have been modified or abandoned. I think that's why keeping a personal record is important.

The tree of life... what paths does one actually need to take? What is the correct way to go along the Tree of Life or the Great work. Which place does one start from?

There are the models of "The Path of the Arrow" and "The Path of the Serpent". The advertisement of the first is that you just shoot straight through the MP into Kether and all is right in the No-Thingness. "The naked soul before God." & etc. The second in more in line with the actual practice and living of magic, because you have to take all of them. Up and down, back and forth, come full circle, repeat. This, IMO is more in line with the concept of "The Great Work" because one is learning to master the processes of "solve et coagula" as a continual cycle of being.

 

[Dominus Lux]

Thank you very much to you all for your insights!

Much appreciated.

 

[Dominus Lux]

I don't think trying to make the visualizations more elaborate is necessary so long as you understand the essence of what you have seen. Do the pentagrams need to blaze or is it enough that you have firmly stated an intention with a symbolic gesture of drawing it in the air. What is more important: what Raphael looks like, whether he is wearing a yellow robe, has a beard or is clean shaven, carries a caduceus or something else; or what Raphael feels like, his "presence" and, in the context of the LBRP, his function as protector in his assigned quarter?


One thing you might consider is that if you are a magician, then visualizations - while they may be "received" - are ultimately at your command. You conjure them with your operations. There is give and take, of course. With certain styles of ritual magic, such as GD, the mental gymnastics you are expected to perform can almost seem like putting the cart before the horse. One can spend so much mental energy on "doing it correctly" that the original intention of the ritual may be lost in a daze of disinterest once the initial inspiration is gone.
Also, consider that whenever the mind tries to accomplish something, there is always a little itching nag of an instinct that says: "Bullshit." It can kill a lot of energy once it finds is niche. Fighting it can even make it stronger. I view it as a manifestation of a principle of becoming: for everything that arises in the universe - including our minds and actions - the opposite is sure to follow if it not waiting in ambush. A lot of this work is like pushing water upstream, and can take a lifetime of struggle.
But intensity in following exercises to the letter have their benefits, even after they have been modified or abandoned. I think that's why keeping a personal record is important.


There are the models of "The Path of the Arrow" and "The Path of the Serpent". The advertisement of the first is that you just shoot straight through the MP into Kether and all is right in the No-Thingness. "The naked soul before God." & etc. The second in more in line with the actual practice and living of magic, because you have to take all of them. Up and down, back and forth, come full circle, repeat. This, IMO is more in line with the concept of "The Great Work" because one is learning to master the processes of "solve et coagula" as a continual cycle of being.

with regards to your response to Point B, I think this is the most likely option. For example:

I think I went down the path of listening to too many chiefs. Here is why, before my manifestations were coming into fruition and quickly as well, and conjuring up visualisations was incredibly easy. I started invoking angels etc and everything was going smoothly. Then I found this alternate version of doing LBRP where the godnames are changed. East is still Raphael but the godname is Eheihe, North is Uriel with Adonai, West is Gabriel with Eloah and South is Micheal with Agla. However, the colours cast for the pentagram are the associated colours assigned to the Angels. Part of me considers the order of the god names a feasible and rational way to vibrate the names... your insights into this would be very much valued.

 

[Dominus Lux]

It could be depression. Or an inherited enemy. Both gave me the exact same issue. I recommend getting depression under control, spend more time just meditating on the image and see if deep seated thoughts on them or against them arise.
The middle Pillar is recommended as a general approach to the tree of life, but the correct answer is all of it.

Thank you for this insight. I really appreciate it! I Will do this.

 

[Roma]

When I joined a spiritual community long ago, I had astral clairvoyance. Within a week it had disappeared and it was a year before I started to develop mental clairvoyance.

 

[Diluculo_DelFuego]

I would say everyone is right. The common theme is some change catalyst needs to occur.
Speaking of catalyst. It could be you've undergone putrefaction or blackening in an alchemy sense. So yes. Something needs to occur.
Get inventive with rituals. Use a voice of thunder. Be dramatic. The spicing it up might need new imagery. Enochian tablets if you know how to use them.

 

[stalkinghyena]

Part of me considers the order of the god names a feasible and rational way to vibrate the names... your insights into this would be very much valued.

The only insight I can offer on that is that experience is the teacher. I've tried altering this or that with some big idea in mind, but I ended up going back to where I started because I felt what I was trying to do was besides the point. I think it is important to have a baseline set of rites as a foundation of work, regardless of the type of "buzz" one might get from them.
It's also helpful to get into the history behind what one is working with. For example, do you know the rationale behind how the elements are assigned to the pentagram? It's not a quiz question, more a point of reflection.