CHAPTER 1
Liber MMM
This course is an exercise in the disciplines of magical trance, a form of mindcontrol having similarities to yoga, personal metamorphosis, and the basictechniques of magic. Success with these techniques is a prerequisite for anyreal progress with the initiate 3° syllabus.
A magical diary is the magician's most essential and powerful tool. It should belarge enough to allow a full page for each day. Students should record the time,duration and degree of success of any practice undertaken. They should makenotes about environmental factors conducive (or otherwise) to the work.
Those wishing to notify the Order of their intention to begin the work areinvited to do so via the publisher.
MIND CONTROL
To work magic effectively, the ability to concentrate the attention must bebuilt up until the mind can enter a trance-like condition. This is accomplishedin a number of stages: absolute motionlessness of the body, regulation of thebreathing, stopping of thoughts, concentration on sound, concentration onobjects, and concentration on mental images.
Motionlessness
Arrange the body in any comfortable position and try to remain in that positionfor as long as possible. Try not to blink or move the tongue or fingers or anypart of the body at all. Do not let the mind run away on long trains of thoughtbut rather observe oneself passively. What appeared to be a comfortable positionmay become agonizing with time, but persist! Set aside some time each day forthis practice and take advantage of any opportunity of inactivity which mayarise.
Record the results in the magical diary. One should not be satisfied with lessthan five minutes. When fifteen have been achieved, proceed to regulation of thebreathing.
Breathing
Stay as motionless as possible and begin to deliberately make the breathingslower and deeper. The aim is to use the entire capacity of the lungs butwithout any undue muscular effort or strain. The lungs may be held empty or fullbetween exhalation and inhalation to lengthen the cycle. The important thing isthat the mind should direct its complete attention to the breath cycle. Whenthis can be done for thirty minutes, proceed to not-thinking.
Not—Thinking
The exercises of motionlessness and breathing may improve health, but they haveno other intrinsic value aside from being a preparation for not-thinking, thebeginnings of the magical trance condition. While motionless and breathingdeeply, begin to withdraw the mind from any thoughts which arise. The attempt todo this inevitably reveals the mind to be a raging tempest of activity. Only thegreatest determination can win even a few seconds of mental silence, but eventhis is quite a triumph. Aim for complete vigilance over the arising of thoughtsand try to lengthen the periods of total quiescence.
Like the physical motionlessness, this mental motionlessness should be practicedat set times and also whenever a period of inactivity presents itself. Theresults should be recorded in your diary.
The Magical Trances
Magic is the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with will.The will can only become magically effective when the mind is focused and notinterfering with the will. The mind must first discipline itself to focus itsentire attention on some meaningless phenomenon. If an attempt is made to focuson some form of desire, the effect is short circuited by lust of result.Egotistical identification, fear of failure, and the reciprocal desire not toachieve desire, arising from our dual nature, destroy the result.
Therefore, when selecting topics for concentration, choose subjects of nospiritual, egotistical, intellectual, emotional, or useful significance—meaninglessthings.
Object Concentration
The legend of the evil-eye derives from the ability of wizards and sorcerers togive a fixed dead stare. This ability can be practiced against any object—a markon a wall, something in the distance, a star in the night sky—anything. To holdan object with an absolutely fixed, unwavering gaze for more than a few momentsproves extraordinarily difficult, yet it must be persisted in for hours at atime. Every attempt by the eye to distort the object, every attempt by the mindto find something else to think of, must be resisted. Eventually it is possibleto extract occult secrets from things by this technique, but the ability must bedeveloped by working with meaningless objects.
Sound Concentration
The part of the mind in which verbal thoughts arise is brought under magicalcontrol by concentration on sounds mentally imagined. Any simple sound of one ormore syllables is selected, for example, Aum or Om, Abrakadabra, Yod He Vau He,Aum Mani Padme Hum, Zazas Zazas, Nasatanada Zazas. The chosen sound is repeatedover and over in the mind to block all other thoughts. No matter howinappropriate the choice of sound may seem to have been, you must persist withit. Eventually the sound may seem to repeat itself automatically and may evenoccur in sleep. These are encouraging signs. Sound concentration is the key towords of power and certain forms of spell casting.
Image Concentration
The part of the mind in which pictorial thoughts arise is brought under magicalcontrol by image concentration. A simple shape, such as a triangle, circle,square, cross, or crescent, is chosen and held in the mind's eye, withoutdistortion, for as long as possible. Only the most determined efforts are likelyto make the imagined form persist for any time. At first the image should besought with the eyes closed. With practice it can be projected onto any blanksurface. This technique is the basis of casting sigils and creating independentthought forms.
The three methods of attaining magical trance will only yield results if pursuedwith the most fanatical and morbid determination. These abilities are highlyabnormal and usually inaccessible to human consciousness, as they demand suchinhuman concentration, but the rewards are great. In the magical diary, recordeach day's formal work and whatever extra opportunities have been utilized. Nopage should be left blank.
Metamorphosis
The transmutation of the mind to magical consciousness...
