We say in our tradition that there are four main practical divisions of theurgy: meditation, worship, initiation, and

hieratic work. For the first four years of training, the disciple concerns himself primarily with the first part, meditation, called in our tradition theoria. Theoria covers a wide array of different kinds of exercises, from things as simple as abstract contemplation or introspection, to practices eventually so complex and intricate that only mental training will allow the imagination to perform them. Some of you are familiar with Franz Bardons Initiation into Hermetics, and as an example, everything in that book is considered theoria in our tradition.

Lying behind the four pillars of theurgy, though, is the foundation of knowledge. Our lineage within the tradition of theurgy is intensely practical; we want our students to feel the energies, see the cosmic lights, experience the bliss in the body and the light in the skull, to feel the electricity of their own fields of energy, and all other sorts of things which will permanently fix the reality and the importance of the spiritual in their hearts. Too many so-called schools out there, pretending to be authentic schools of initiation, have burdened their followers with empty words, and buried would-be theurgists beneath an avalanche of books. This is not the original path of initiation, but a development of a darker era that strayed away from direct experience and decided to relax in the armchair instead of meditate in the sanctum. Standing against the fierce river of mediocrity, which condemns a student to a lifetime of practice before any tangible results are noticed, we immediately immerse our students in the cool stream of direct experience.

Yet there must be a balance, though our scales should tip considerably towards the side of direct inner experience (gnosis). Though we wish our students to stay focused on the straight and pure path of askesis, spiritual practice, neither do we wish our students to be blind, or have no idea why they are doing what they are doing. Indeed, the theurgist should pride himself in understanding very well why he does everything that he does, and our experiences with many students have proven beyond a doubt that the practices are better and more intense when the practitioner understands the mechanisms involved. This kind of knowledge is sometimes theology, sometimes cosmology, and sometimes mythology. It is called episteme, or book knowledge, as opposed to knowledge derived individually through reason, logic, or direct inner experience. Though knowledge alone cannot get you to God, it can provide a powerful foundation from which you can lift off into the sky. This week, the episteme we will consider concerns how the aspiring student should classify those very real but subtle energies which he shall eventually make use of.

There are many ways to examine the universe and its forces, and the ways in which those forces are classified and categorized tend to define the major differences between accurate systems of magic. In theurgy, or just the hermetic science in general, there are three main classifications, called keys, which the student comes to learn and work through. They are:

The Zodiacal Key The Planetary Key The Elemental Key For the first stage of ones training, the elemental key is best. The student, who will have a lot to learn as it is, will progress more readily if he does not have to worry about 23 different ways to categorize things. Therefore, for the duration of the first steps towards initiation, his practices and studies will be confined largely within the realm of the four elements.

Why the elements? The zodiacal and planetary keys are perhaps more specific, as they have twelve or seven divisions respectively as opposed to the elemental keys four classifications. However, for reasons you shall understand more clearly later, the elemental energies must be mastered long before any other energies can be tampered with. In the meantime, though, we may give an explanation which by now the student should be able to understand.

It goes without saying that we are within the physical world, Earth, and here do we have our main operations. This is true for the initiated (telestos) and the uninitiated (atelestos) alike, and there is no escaping this fact. There are forces which exert influence upon the world from afar, such as the zodiac and the planets; but most imminently influential and, therefore, more important in the beginning are the elemental energies which affect the world from within. The energies of the four elements (fire, air, water and earth) have more immediate impact upon the things of this world than the more distant astrological influences of stars, formations and planets. As such, if the theurgist is going to start with the gross and work up to the fine, to start with this level and work up to higher levels, then he must first master the energies of this level before they will allow him to use them as steps to the next. If then the aspirant is to aim for the more subtle spheres, and to gain influence amongst the stars and other such forces, he must first master the ones which are immediately at his disposal.

The individual person tends to be more disposed towards influences from the elements, particularly insofar as character is concerned, than any other spiritual forces. Apart from this, the four elements have immediate manifestations and representations in our world: the subtle energies we call fire, air, water and earth have corresponding manifestations in the physical world that bear the same names, and which we can and regularly do interact with. This makes the subtle, incorporeal aspects of the elements easier to understand for the student in the beginning, and once he becomes more advanced, their readiness to manifest allows him to produce phenomena which can give him great boosts in self-confidence regarding the effectiveness of his training and rate of his progress. Consider for a moment that you can likely

think of something fiery very quickly, but that you would probably have to be a little more creative to think of something that could reasonably be called Saturnine in nature.

Let us consider a few of the qualities of the elements, both physically and mentally:

Element Qualities Associations Fire Hot, Dry, Expansion, Motion, Bright, Light Courage, Creativity, Productivity, Action Air Warm, Moist, Light, Motion Mediation, Intelligence, Communication Water Cold, Wet, Dark, Motion, Heavy Receptive, Emotional, Maternal, Adaptive Earth Cool, Dry, Dark, Still, Heavy Confident, Strong, Stubborn, Reliable In later studies, all of these elements will be considered rather extensively. For our purposes though, it suffices to understand their basic qualities and progress from there.

The Fluids

Concealed within each of the four elements is a particular kind of core energy, this energy differentiating between each one. The core fluid is not the element itself, but it is the purest refinement of its active qualities in the astral world before emotions, mental qualities and physical traits were added to it to form the element in total. The two primary polarities are found within the fire element and the water element. The electric fluid is the core energy within the fire element, and the magnetic fluid is the core energy within the water element. Each fluid can be seen as the nucleus of its respective element, with the metaphorical electrons being the many qualities which have magnetized to the fluid and essentially created what we now know to be the element. Though the electric and magnetic fluids are within the fire and water elements, they are not the elements themselves, and this must be kept in mind for the sake of accuracy in understanding. The electric fluid can be worked with independently from the fire element, and the magnetic fluid can be worked with independently from the water element. However, neither of those elements can be used without the innate and natural presence of their respective fluids.

What is a fluid? In hermetic science a fluid is an energy which has substance and is constantly in motion on the astral level. Each element has its elemental energy on the spiritual level, and this energy is not actually the element which it bears the name of. The fire elemental energy only bears the name fire because physical fire is the closest thing to it in our world, and when that energy condenses and manifests, it does so in the form of physical fire. The same holds true to the other three elemental energies. These elemental energies are called the elemental fluids. Fire contains the electric fluid, air contains the electromagnetic fluid, water contains the magnetic fluid, and earth contains a tetrapolar force.

This week you shall begin the construction of the Black and White Soul Mirrors, which is essentially an elemental breakdown of who you presently are. During this time you will have to be creative in trying to figure out which qualities belong to which elements, and though your teachers will help you with some of the finer points, you are encouraged to discover as much as you can on your own. Use what has been given here as a sort of guideline, then use your creativity to try and accurately piece together the appropriate elemental associations. You are going to get a few of them wrong in the beginning, but your teacher will correct any such mistakes he sees along the way. In the meantime, pay more attention to what seems like it would be logically correct, and you will learn whether or not you are correct as time advances.

In the coming weeks spend time not only trying to apply the elemental key to your personality traits, but also to things that you witness every day. Try to figure out which element some of your friends are most disposed to. Take time to look into nature and find actions which lean towards one element or another. Consider the many kinds of animals, birds, fish, etc in the world that you are familiar with, and think about whether their behavior makes them more inclined to one element than another. Take note of all of this in your magical journal, which you were instructed to create and begin keeping when you received your second lesson.

The subject of the zodiacal and planetary energies is not fit for the practical study of the total neophyte. Once one has mastered the four elements and readied himself fit in the astral realm, then he advances astrally to master the lights of the seven planets. In mastering these, he learns of their expression through the twelve zodiacal lights. This is a higher level of initiation, and in progressing through the zodiacal and planetary energies, he takes great steps in the evolution of his consciousness and the deification of his vehicles. The elements will evolve and perfect the lower vehicles of the individual: the physical, etheric, and astral levels. His higher astral and causal faculties, however, will evolve the most when he advances to the point of working with the planetary and zodiacal intelligences, and learns to move in and master those spheres of operation.

Before getting to the point where he goes astrally to the various spheres and works with zodiacal intelligences, and before the practice of their theurgy, the aspirant of this line of training shall have made himself fit to work with these energies practically. Having obtained a certain mastery over the elements after a long period of training, he will be instructed in talismanic magic, and how to bring the energies of the spheres down into practical work in this world, as well as how to align his works with the actions of the stars and planets in order to achieve maximum results. The true theurgist, of course, is not ruled by the stars in any way, and can accomplish any magic at any time. Nonetheless, he will often find it convenient to learn the secret of ancient formulae, trusted and empowered since the most remote antiquities, in order to apply more energy to his use.

These things, though, are all taught at much later levels. They pose a great danger to the new student; and not just because he likely lacks the ability to control the forces he would work with. No, the much greater danger is distraction from the path. Given to the neophyte, these practices promise only power, and because the neophyte is powerless as he is, that promise is empty. The beginner on this path is easily distracted, and can be caught up in the seemingly glamorous world of spells, rituals, magic words, etc., being dragged down into an obsession with astral phenomenon. Subjected to this, the aspirant loses his sight on God, and wanders for a greater length of time in the miasma of the lower worlds, content with psychic and magical phenomena. Some of you have witnessed this yourselves: so-called initiates of supposed magical orders, working rituals they dont understand, towards an end not clearly defined. Spending hours working with planetary energies, these lost individuals wander through their magical practices unaware of what the original intentions of those practices were; namely, how they are to be used to get to God and enter into self-realization.

Instead, the student of this path persists in meditative askesis and the training of the self for a great length of time. Spiritual experiences which result from the practices will set the students eyes firmly inwards to the divinity of the true soul within, and the student will not only believe

but will experience for himself that the transitory nature of this world is essentially illusion and sorrow, and that God alone is the end of our journey. Then, firmly rooted in this higher understanding, the student will go on to work certain kinds of magic, but only with a full and unwavering knowledge of their purpose as a ladder towards spiritual evolution and gnosis. This is theurgy proper, the application of magic towards self realization.