High Magic II: Expanded Theory and Practice - Softcover

Magic and Yoga (i)

Many magicians, in particular followers of the older traditions, feel that an intense and thorough study of yoga should be included in their students’ magical training—at least for a while. Many styles of Indian yoga have been adapted to fit the needs of Western­ers and these are so popular nowadays that it hardly seems necessary to discuss them in a book like this. As far as hatha yoga (the type of yoga involving physical exercises) is concerned, we will indeed keep our comments to a minimum. After all, there are plenty of excellent books about it on the market and classes are offered at gyms, community centers and yoga schools in even the most remote areas.

But with the large amount of information available, we often tend to forget what yoga is really about. Patañjali, one of the classic authors of yoga literature, says it best in his book The Yoga Sutras:

“Yogas´ citta-vritti-nirodhah.”

In English:

“Yoga is restraining [Sanskrit: nirodha] the fluctuations of mind.”

Although the derivative of the word “yoga” as “yoke = harness/self-discipline” is com­monly stressed, it doesn’t help much when the true intention of yoga is overlooked, for

example through exaggerated perceptions of asceticism, a sole emphasis on complicated body postures, or purely speculative philosophizing.

Plus, yoga is a complete philosophical and ideological system that cannot be reduced to a mere type of gymnastics. Like no other discipline known to us today, all of the nu­merous different styles of Indian yoga are extremely effective in applying highly devel­oped, refined techniques for shifting awareness and shaping matter with the mind.

Readers who already have a good knowledge of yoga can just skim over the next sec­tion.

the structure of ashtanga or raja yoga

It was Vivekananda who was instrumental in bringing yoga to the Western world and establishing its popularity there. Through him, the term “raja” (= “royal”) came into use to describe a system of yoga that is more commonly known in India as “ashtanga” (= “eightfold path/eight limbs of yoga”). In fact, in Indian culture, a person’s own personal yoga path is generally referred to as the “royal” path, which sometimes causes confusion when it is mentioned in literature. That’s why we’ll stick to the initial designation of “eightfold yoga” in this book. After all, the style of yoga introduced by Vivekananda is the most widely practiced.

As the name already implies, this type of yoga is divided into eight paths or limbs, each one in itself leading to samadhi (= “union with the highest” or “enlightenment by achieving a state of empty mind”), although they are generally viewed and treated as parts of a whole.

We’ll be introducing these paths or limbs in the traditional way, first in their rela­tionship to one another as a whole, and then individually. However, since we’re pursu­ing a concept that is different than most other authors’ of literature on yoga or magic, we will not be discussing them in order, but rather in the sequence that’s appropriate to the corresponding chapters of this book.

Yama

Ahimsa — nonviolence

Satya — truthfulness

Asteya — abstention from theft

Brahmacharya — abstinence from sexual activity

 Aparigraha — refrainment from accepting gifts

Niyama

Shauca — purity

Santosha — contentment

Tapah — austerity

Svadhyaya — spiritual study

Ishvarapranidhana — self-sacrifice to God

Asana body postures

Pranayama control of vital breath (prana)

Pratyahara abstraction of the senses

Dharana concentration

Dhyana meditation

Samadhi superconscious state or trance

First we will discuss the path of asana.

asana in the practice of magic

The practice of asana often consists of bending the body into bizarre positions in order to experience the unusual flow of energies—and also transcending this experience in it­self in order to trigger and experience altered states of consciousness. With this in mind, the rejection of hatha yoga (or “physical yoga”) by the more “spiritual” yoga schools is based on a fundamental misunderstanding. After all, every asana—if properly per­formed and mastered—will almost automatically lead to the state of meditation (dhy­ana).

Here’s what Patañjali has to say about asana:

 “Sthira-sukham asanam.”

In English:

“Asana is steady, comfortable posture.”

Some translations of Vivekananda refer to asana as a “sitting” posture when in fact the “body” postures of yoga are being referred to. (After all, it would be absurd to refer to recognized asanas such as headstands or the peacock in hatha yoga as sitting postures!)

The purpose of asanas is to calm the body and spirit. In addition, they promote good health, keep the body in good shape, regulate the glandular system, and strengthen muscles, tissue, tendons, all organs, and especially the immune system.

This harmonization has one disadvantage, however, especially for people who have a lot of contact with the general public. It makes your body extremely sensitive to ev­erything that’s good for it—and bad as well. This is especially noticeable in a person’s diet. Although yoga will strengthen a person’s resistance, the yogi who doesn’t heed his or her inner voice and eats something that his or her body doesn’t need will certainly pay the price! A person doesn’t have to stick to a prescribed diet, although most yogis are indeed vegetarians and refrain for the most part from consuming drugs and other stimulants such as alcohol, nicotine, coffee, and theine. Instead, the body will develop its own individual diet based on a keen sense of exactly what it needs. This may strongly deviate from the norm and must be strictly adhered to in order to avoid serious health problems, especially with the stomach or digestive tract.

In magic, we use asanas for a similar reason as in yoga —to induce gnosis and turn off all bodily perception in order to allow the spirit to focus on its work without hin­drance, but also to maintain the physical condition of our body, which is our most im­portant vehicle since it’s a reflection of our spirit. With the help of our body, we practice things such as letting go, self-discipline, devotion, vision, and action. Once our bodily perception is that well trained, it will work as an unerring seismograph for all magical things that happen around us. It will become both a source of joy and an alarm system, as well as our wholeness and the home of our gods (the Egyptian Book of the Dead says: “In every limb of our body lives a god”).

That’s why asanas shouldn’t feel like torture. (Aleister Crowley, however, often...