Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Contact with the Lower

Many people climb the ladder of lights by interacting with the angels, either of the 7 planets, or the 10 sephira or so on. Even when approaching these beings for their assistance in working out mundane issues like money and so on, the interaction with the angels transforms the magician. By their very nature, they elevate the consciousness of any lower beings that they come into contact with. Thus, interaction is not only practical magick, but initiatory as well. 

Not much talk gets devoted to how working with demons is transformative as well. Just as angels are lighter, purifying, and enobling; demons are heavier, passionate, and atavistic. 

This is of course not a matter of good and evil, just gravity. Yet by almost all accounts its dangerous to work with demons before working with angels. Why? The same reason that its dangerous to rush into sexual relationships before you can emotionally handle it, and dangerous to start drinking alcohol before you have developed the maturity to know when to stop. Angels will elevate your mind, demons will excite the passions. Angels will turn up the volume on your inspiration; demons will do the same with your instinct. There is a big difference. 

The biggest danger one is likely to face with working to much with angels is that you get to disconnected from day to day life, and perhaps wind up a monk or hermit. The danger of working too much with demons is that you could wind up a slave to your lowest and most destructive passions. 

This is also the reason that many yogis stress the need for long purification practices before being taught how to ignite the fires of gTummo or raise the Kundalini. That vital force from the lower chakras will amplify everything: good and bad. If you dont have yourself under control, rather than turn up the volume on your spiritual aspirations as a yogi, it will turn up the volume on your aspirations for pure hedonism. 

So why work with demons at all? Why not just stick with angels? 

Because we do live in the world. By working with demons we are summoning a being with a lot of force to work with. It is heavier and more passionate the baseline of material reality, and can therefore move and shake things faster than just the angels alone. 

Also, you are fulfilling your role in the cosmos according to this model. You are elevated by contact with the angels, and the demons are elevated by their contact with you. This is common knowlege. 

But it also works the other way. By working with demons, your work is vivified and made more manifest. By working with you, the angels work is also provided more passion and made more manifest. To put it another way: the angels, when they are working with you, are essentially doing the same thing that you are doing when working with demons. 

Not too many people seem to think in those terms. 

The material of course aspired towards spirit, but spirit also desires to manifest in matter. As a being in the middle world, we are transformed equally by both, and necessarily so. There is a deeper mystery here as well, and those trained in internal yogas that I already mentioned above know it well: that the process is only fully realized when the flames of passion melt the frozen drops of heavenly wisdom. 


5 comments:

Persephone said...

Wow, Jay, awesome post.

I was just lying in bed thinking that sort of thing. I experience it as becoming disconnected from my physical being when I am doing too much work with the purely spiritual, so I have to be quite rigorous in my yoga practice to make sure I stay on the ground.

I think I will have more thoughts on this on my blog (which is not dead... just had to take a break as I reconnected with some aspects of the material world like my job!)

Hope to see you sometime soon!

P

Rufus Opus said...

Jason,

You and I are totally on the same page with this. One of the key verses in the Bible that talks about why we are here and what the passion play is all about that gets totally overlooked is where Paul says that we're doing this "for the angels."

Jason Miller, said...

What Book, Chapter, and Verse?

I am working on the next book already and this will go in there.

Mr. J. said...

I personally agree with you. We both have yogic backgrounds though.

My Rouhaniat teacher how ever does not. His view is that most spirits considered demons (at least by him and the tradition) are outright hostile to humans (think the machines from The Matrix) by choice or "design". (Like the mouth of a komodo dragon)

And I see his point too. "Why would you invite a serial killer into your house and ask him for a favor?" I got asked once.

It also makes me draw parallels between Solomon PBUH and the spirits of the brazen vessel, and Padmasambava and the native Tibetan Gods. Though IMO Guru Rinpoche did a more thourough and noble job.

Though I suppose "why would you ask a serial killer for a favor?" a good answer would be "because they aren't all serial killers!"

Jason Miller, said...

If you think that Padamasambhava did a more throrough job you should read an article by Dudjom Rinpoche called "On the bad luck of the Nyingmapa"