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The following is an excerpt from a teaching to a Yi Fa Society student, who had inquired about the role of spirits in the Yi Fa system, compared to the important role spirits play in western magick. Its relevance is mainly for students who are working at Level 2, but may be of interest to those in Level 1 of the Yi Fa Curriculum or to non-members curious about the relationship between the Yi Fa Curriculum, which is in essence a system of mysticism/magick inspired by Eastern cosmology, and the traditional systems of western magick in the hermetic tradition)
"First, I have to preface by saying that you should not under-estimate Qi.
Qi is only 'kind of weak' compared to Gong.
In fact, Qi can be used to do all sorts of things.
Qi, when it is applied to cultivation practice, is essentially a measurement of Will. If you consider in western magick just how important Will is, you also have an idea of just how important Qi is.
Gong, on the other hand, represent a measurement of one's "Enlightenment Quality".
It doesn't measure Will, it measures Consciousness.
The difference in the 'power' of these two is that Qi can change things in reality, while Gong can change reality itself. Qi is limited by the particular environmental conditions found in nature/reality at a given time; Gong is limited only by the laws that make up nature/reality.
Spirits, like humans, contain Qi and can manipulate Qi.
Like humans, they can also potentially receive Gong. Although it is usually impossible for them to do so without some form of human intervention.
Think of it like this: in western magick, planetary spirits, angels, demons, whatever you want to call it, have their own power. But they generally can't actually accomplish miraculous effects without the human intervention of the magician. In Buddhism and Hinduism you see the same: the power of the Buddha requires human intervention.
So the formula in western magick is that spirits (of whatever type) have power in their own domains, sometimes immense power, but to be able to make Change occur, it depends on human beings interacting with them. And yet, human beings can only EFFECTIVELY interact with them if they first have the 'Authority" to do so. That "authority" being either their own level of Enlightenment or the obtaining of authority through a divine hierarchy: for example, a (regular) magician trying to do evocation must first perform an Invocation of Adonai, Adonai himself is the link to YHVH; so first the magician goes up the hierarchy, through Adonai to YHVH, gets the authority, and then can summon and bind the demon by that authority.
An Adept, because of their level of attainment, has a kind of permanent authority, so they can do this with much less effort.
Note: for "Adonai" and "YHVH", you can also supplant with the current of THELEMA, and its entities/formulae in modern magick.
In the YI FA system it works much the same way.
So spirits can be summoned. They must be directed through the authority of the cultivator, that authority must come from the Taiji, through the authority of the YI FA current (which is coequal to the current of Thelema).
Spirits can then be of assistance.
Spirits could also receive gong, in theory, if connected in some long-term way to a cultivator; but this is usually not a good situation, because it is Gong that they are getting from in essence doing the practitioner's cultivation for them. Thus it is Gong they get that the practitioner does not. This only happens when a practitioner is using a spirit in a bad way (as a short cut to their own cultivation), so you probably don't need to worry about it right now. More information about this sort of thing is detailed in Level 3.
One of the key differences between the Yi Fa system and western magick is that western magick is far more externally focused. Yi Fa recognizes the existence of and utility of spirits, but places internal cultivation and internal power first and foremost. Spirits can be used to try to achieve change that the one's own internal Qi cannot so easily accomplish, but this is something to do in those sorts of specific circumstances and not as a first option. Thus the Yi Fa system always puts your own consciousness and ability first and foremost.
(if you are interested in joining the Yi Fa Society and working
its curriculum, which is a complete system of esoteric training, please
contact me!)
