Bagua
Showing posts with label magick. Show all posts
Showing posts with label magick. Show all posts
Monday, March 8, 2021
Sunday, May 26, 2019
VIDEO: "Healing Magic" vs True Health
The following video is not on a topic I cover very often. Most perceptions of Qi Gong as being "for health" as a primary purpose are utterly wrong, and I don't want to encourage these perceptions. But then again, most people's perceptions of health and of what spiritual or alternative-medical practices are capable of doing for their health are totally wrong as well!
So, here I set the record straight:
Friday, February 3, 2017
Why the Yi Fa, and not a Western System?
Someone recently asked me why am I focusing on the Yi Fa Curriculum; as I clearly know a lot about western magick, why didn't I make a better modern form of a western magical system instead?
There are a couple of reasons why.
In the first place, the magick/occult community is full of people who have ideas, assumptions and fantasies about what magick is and what it's for.
Second, it has been tread over many times, and with many people making false assumptions.
By creating a magical system (the Yi Fa Curriculum) that does not look like what people's assumptions tell them 'magick' looks like, it means only people who are capable of having the right priorities and thinking beyond their own projections will be drawn to it.
Nevertheless, the work of the Yi Fa Curriculum will be highly complementary to the studies and practices of anyone seriously pursuing western esoteric systems.
If you are interested in joining the Yi Fa Society, please feel free to contact me.
Monday, December 19, 2016
Zhuge Liang and the Stone Maze
While Zhuge Liang did not follow the same teachings as the Yi Fa descends from, he was a true master of the I Ching. Liang was a famous general and prime-minister during the period in Chinese history known as the "Three Kingdoms" period, after the fall of the Han dynasty, when China split into three warring states in the early part of the 3rd century AD. He was the Prime Minister of the state of Shu, one of the three Kingdoms. He was also famed as one of the greatest strategists of all Chinese history, comparable to Sun Tzu (who is more famous in the west).
In the stories relating to the wars between the three kingdoms, there is a famous account of Zhuge Liang making use of the power of the I Ching in magick to confound his enemies. In of the many military campaigns, Liang's King, Liu Bei, was defeated in battle against an enemy general. His army retreated toward a famous temple-complex called Baidicheng, where Zhuge Liang was waiting. While the troops escaped, Liang arranged a set of stones into 64 piles, of about 5ft in height each. The pattern he arranged them in was corresponding to the arrangement of the eight trigrams of the I Ching.
When the enemy general arrived, he felt the presence of heavy Qi in the area. He suspected a trap but saw only the strange field of stones. He chose to enter it with his men, thinking it some kind of cheap trick.
But once they'd entered, they suddenly found that the stones seemed like vast mountains. The mists of the temple seemed like a storm of cloud and dust. The men were soon totally bewildered, like in a maze.
They would have perished there, had it not been for an old man who appeared in the maze, Liang's father-in-law. He guided the general and his men out, explaining that Liang had created the maze with his understanding of the eight trigrams and the mysteries of the elements, and that only through understanding could one make one's way through it. The enemy general, realizing that Zhuge Liang's superior wisdom was unbeatable, chose to halt and turn back from his invasion of the Shu kingdom.
This story is meant to be allegorical, about the maze-like qualities of the contemplation of nature and the eight trigrams and 64 hexagrams, and the gifts that it's contemplation can provide.
However, it is also not solely allegory. The Stone Maze was a real place, found at Baidicheng, where remnants of it had survived all the way until modern times, and had been visible until the area was flooded by the construction of the Three Gorges Dam.
In the stories relating to the wars between the three kingdoms, there is a famous account of Zhuge Liang making use of the power of the I Ching in magick to confound his enemies. In of the many military campaigns, Liang's King, Liu Bei, was defeated in battle against an enemy general. His army retreated toward a famous temple-complex called Baidicheng, where Zhuge Liang was waiting. While the troops escaped, Liang arranged a set of stones into 64 piles, of about 5ft in height each. The pattern he arranged them in was corresponding to the arrangement of the eight trigrams of the I Ching.
When the enemy general arrived, he felt the presence of heavy Qi in the area. He suspected a trap but saw only the strange field of stones. He chose to enter it with his men, thinking it some kind of cheap trick.
But once they'd entered, they suddenly found that the stones seemed like vast mountains. The mists of the temple seemed like a storm of cloud and dust. The men were soon totally bewildered, like in a maze.
They would have perished there, had it not been for an old man who appeared in the maze, Liang's father-in-law. He guided the general and his men out, explaining that Liang had created the maze with his understanding of the eight trigrams and the mysteries of the elements, and that only through understanding could one make one's way through it. The enemy general, realizing that Zhuge Liang's superior wisdom was unbeatable, chose to halt and turn back from his invasion of the Shu kingdom.
This story is meant to be allegorical, about the maze-like qualities of the contemplation of nature and the eight trigrams and 64 hexagrams, and the gifts that it's contemplation can provide.
However, it is also not solely allegory. The Stone Maze was a real place, found at Baidicheng, where remnants of it had survived all the way until modern times, and had been visible until the area was flooded by the construction of the Three Gorges Dam.
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
Qi, Gong, Spirits, and Magick
(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!)
"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!)
Thursday, August 25, 2016
On the Nature of Ritual and Qi
The other day I posted a Youtube video related to the subject of ritual, in the context of the Bhagavad Gita:
Now, this video is not part of the Yi Fa Curriculum. But the subject of 'ritual' is very significant to the Yi Fa work. As the video points out, ritual is not meant to be something done automatically, or even as such for some kind of ulterior motive: it is its own reward.
This brings to mind the question of 'what is ritual'? We tend to think of ritual in terms of being some kind of ceremony meant for religious or magical purposes.
But in Chinese thought, ritual or "rites" (which is called "li") means not only religious ceremony, but also it encompasses all the notions of 'proper conduct'. It can be understood as including customs, manners, etiquette, 'proper form', etc. We could call it "rules of art". It is tied to the Virtue of harmony; both in the sense of good harmony within our own being (balance), but also harmony with our world, our fellow human beings, and society.
Another of the Confucian Classics, aside from the I Ching, is the "Book of Rites". If you look at that book, you will find that it is not some book of magical rituals, but rather a wide-ranging guide to all kinds of standards of etiquette and ancient customs (from the Zhou dynasty, the dynasty that wrote the I Ching).
In relation to Qi Gong, the practice of the forms of Qi Gong (including Yi Fa Qi Gong) are certainly a type of ritual. It is important to further clarify what this means in the context of Qi. There are many people talking about the "Qi Gong" of other activities: how painting can be Qi Gong, or writing, or dancing, or all sorts of other things (even "Qi Gong Golf" or "Qi Gong Cooking"). In some cases, this is interpreted in some kind of very esoteric way, like as if you are doing some very special mystical technique. But this was not really the purpose of this concept, it is actually just the opposite.
Let's further define an intentional act, and a ritual act. In western esoteric magic, we are told that "any intentional act is a magical act", and that magick is "the art or science of causing change to occur in conformity to the Will". We can thus surmise that any intentional act is an act where you are directing your will.
So what marks the difference between an 'intentional' act and a 'ritual' act is that a ritual act is to direct the will within a certain form. Any practice that has a technique is not only an intentional act, but a ritual act. This is how to understand 'rites' in the context of Qi Gong.
What this means is that if you get up in the morning and brush your teeth, and the practice of brushing your teeth is done in a certain way (you stand in front of the sink, you fill a glass, you lift the glass to your lips and slosh some water in your mouth, then spit it out into the sink; you grab your toothbrush, open the toothpaste, put a bead of toothpaste on the toothbrush, put the toothbrush in your mouth and scrub in a certain fashion going from one part of your teeth to another, then rinse your mouth again, wash off the toothbrush, etc.) then you can say that you have a "technique" of brushing your teeth. But this is not a ritual, unless you are also doing it as an intentional act. As soon as you are doing this exact same technique, just as you always did it before but now as an intentional act, it becomes the Ritual of Brushing Teeth.
It is the same with countless other things you do in your ordinary life. You have techniques for all sorts of ordinary things in your life. Often, these are done mechanically, specifically as a way to avoid paying attention while you are doing it; you can be on 'automatic' because of how familiar you are with these techniques.
In Qi Gong, Qi is a measurement of the direction of your Will. It is treated as a substance, and thus we understand Will not as some invisible thing or only a mental effect but as a part of our material existence. When we do anything as an Intentional act, we are directing Qi. So if we are doing some technique in a mechanical way, we are not directing Qi into these activities. But as soon as we do that technique in an intentional way, we are directing Qi into them: a mechanical activity becomes a Ritual activity. This directing of Qi does not really require any special effort on our part aside from intention; just like in Yi Fa Qi Gong you do not need to do anything mentally to 'move' the Qi, it naturally happens just by performing the practices with intention.
If we are trying to brush our teeth, or paint, or play golf, or prepare breakfast or any other thing, through some technique, whether it is ordinary or somehow fancy or ceremonious or unusual, it is NOT Qi Gong, if it is mechanical. But it can be said to be "Tooth-brushing Qi Gong" or "Painting Qi Gong" or "Golfing Qi Gong" or "Cooking Qi Gong" if we are doing it with a technique and form AND we are also doing it intentionally!
This is why I say people often understand it the opposite way of how it is intended: it is not about reciting some kind of mantra or visualizing something or doing some unusual movements or mentally directing something, while you are doing these ordinary things. It is about doing these ordinary things with order and structure, with harmony and balance, and with the Active Consciousness, with intent. The point is not to try to mystify ordinary activities, but to understand that that all sorts of ordinary things can be mystical, can be part of cultivation, simply by doing them consciously.
And we have to conclude, by this same reasoning, that it is not that Qi Gong is something separate from the ordinary, but very much part of the ordinary. Our ordinary life does not need to be integrated into our cultivation practice; rather, our cultivation practice needs to be integrated into our everyday lives! We do not need to separate ourselves from ordinary existence to find the magical, we have to unite our Will to the ordinary.
There, in the Manifested, is where the Great Work is to be found.
Now, this video is not part of the Yi Fa Curriculum. But the subject of 'ritual' is very significant to the Yi Fa work. As the video points out, ritual is not meant to be something done automatically, or even as such for some kind of ulterior motive: it is its own reward.
This brings to mind the question of 'what is ritual'? We tend to think of ritual in terms of being some kind of ceremony meant for religious or magical purposes.
But in Chinese thought, ritual or "rites" (which is called "li") means not only religious ceremony, but also it encompasses all the notions of 'proper conduct'. It can be understood as including customs, manners, etiquette, 'proper form', etc. We could call it "rules of art". It is tied to the Virtue of harmony; both in the sense of good harmony within our own being (balance), but also harmony with our world, our fellow human beings, and society.
Another of the Confucian Classics, aside from the I Ching, is the "Book of Rites". If you look at that book, you will find that it is not some book of magical rituals, but rather a wide-ranging guide to all kinds of standards of etiquette and ancient customs (from the Zhou dynasty, the dynasty that wrote the I Ching).
In relation to Qi Gong, the practice of the forms of Qi Gong (including Yi Fa Qi Gong) are certainly a type of ritual. It is important to further clarify what this means in the context of Qi. There are many people talking about the "Qi Gong" of other activities: how painting can be Qi Gong, or writing, or dancing, or all sorts of other things (even "Qi Gong Golf" or "Qi Gong Cooking"). In some cases, this is interpreted in some kind of very esoteric way, like as if you are doing some very special mystical technique. But this was not really the purpose of this concept, it is actually just the opposite.
Let's further define an intentional act, and a ritual act. In western esoteric magic, we are told that "any intentional act is a magical act", and that magick is "the art or science of causing change to occur in conformity to the Will". We can thus surmise that any intentional act is an act where you are directing your will.
So what marks the difference between an 'intentional' act and a 'ritual' act is that a ritual act is to direct the will within a certain form. Any practice that has a technique is not only an intentional act, but a ritual act. This is how to understand 'rites' in the context of Qi Gong.
What this means is that if you get up in the morning and brush your teeth, and the practice of brushing your teeth is done in a certain way (you stand in front of the sink, you fill a glass, you lift the glass to your lips and slosh some water in your mouth, then spit it out into the sink; you grab your toothbrush, open the toothpaste, put a bead of toothpaste on the toothbrush, put the toothbrush in your mouth and scrub in a certain fashion going from one part of your teeth to another, then rinse your mouth again, wash off the toothbrush, etc.) then you can say that you have a "technique" of brushing your teeth. But this is not a ritual, unless you are also doing it as an intentional act. As soon as you are doing this exact same technique, just as you always did it before but now as an intentional act, it becomes the Ritual of Brushing Teeth.
It is the same with countless other things you do in your ordinary life. You have techniques for all sorts of ordinary things in your life. Often, these are done mechanically, specifically as a way to avoid paying attention while you are doing it; you can be on 'automatic' because of how familiar you are with these techniques.
In Qi Gong, Qi is a measurement of the direction of your Will. It is treated as a substance, and thus we understand Will not as some invisible thing or only a mental effect but as a part of our material existence. When we do anything as an Intentional act, we are directing Qi. So if we are doing some technique in a mechanical way, we are not directing Qi into these activities. But as soon as we do that technique in an intentional way, we are directing Qi into them: a mechanical activity becomes a Ritual activity. This directing of Qi does not really require any special effort on our part aside from intention; just like in Yi Fa Qi Gong you do not need to do anything mentally to 'move' the Qi, it naturally happens just by performing the practices with intention.
If we are trying to brush our teeth, or paint, or play golf, or prepare breakfast or any other thing, through some technique, whether it is ordinary or somehow fancy or ceremonious or unusual, it is NOT Qi Gong, if it is mechanical. But it can be said to be "Tooth-brushing Qi Gong" or "Painting Qi Gong" or "Golfing Qi Gong" or "Cooking Qi Gong" if we are doing it with a technique and form AND we are also doing it intentionally!
This is why I say people often understand it the opposite way of how it is intended: it is not about reciting some kind of mantra or visualizing something or doing some unusual movements or mentally directing something, while you are doing these ordinary things. It is about doing these ordinary things with order and structure, with harmony and balance, and with the Active Consciousness, with intent. The point is not to try to mystify ordinary activities, but to understand that that all sorts of ordinary things can be mystical, can be part of cultivation, simply by doing them consciously.
And we have to conclude, by this same reasoning, that it is not that Qi Gong is something separate from the ordinary, but very much part of the ordinary. Our ordinary life does not need to be integrated into our cultivation practice; rather, our cultivation practice needs to be integrated into our everyday lives! We do not need to separate ourselves from ordinary existence to find the magical, we have to unite our Will to the ordinary.
There, in the Manifested, is where the Great Work is to be found.
Saturday, January 2, 2016
What is Involved in Applying for Yi Fa Society Membership, and the Benefits of Membership
The application process for becoming a Yi Fa Society member is just filling out a short questionnaire. Most of the questions in this form are used to understand the background and previous experience of the applicant, and their reasons for wanting to join.
There's usually only three reasons why someone wouldn't be accepted: if they didn't seem to have a serious interest in actually working the system, if they're interested in learning the system for totally wrong reasons, or if they were in a situation in their current moment where they wouldn't be able to have enough very basic stability in their life to fulfill the necessities of what it takes to practice effectively.
If you are a member of the Yi Fa Society, you get access to a secret group, where you will be taught additional material not available on this public blog or the Yi Fa Society Youtube Playlist. This includes more elaborate guidance to how to practice Yi Fa Qi Gong, secrets of the I Ching, guidance for meditations, other special techniques, and lots of files of teaching to help you in your advancement.
The group also provides you with the opportunity to interact with other members, and to present your questions and experiences to me for help and advice. Members of the Yi Fa Society can write me any time (and are encouraged to do so AT LEAST once a month as a minimum) to let me know how they're doing and to keep them guided and motivated in their advancement.
This is at level 1. There are 8 levels in total in the Yi Fa Society, and you have to fulfill certain work in order to move up to the next level each time (no one gets to go up just based on time served or special friendship or donations, or anything like that; this isn't about getting fancy titles, it's about learning how to master yourself and your inner being and outer world).
While level 1 is mainly about improving on the core and basic Yi Fa practices, from level 2 and up you get all kinds of new material including new and secret Qi Gong practices and I Ching secrets not available to the public. You also receive training in techniques of advanced meditations (and what could be called 'magick') for working with your Qi, De and Gong (the three types of spiritual/alchemical forces you use in the Yi Fa system). Each level works progressively in guiding you to self-transformation, an alchemical process to manifest your "Superior Individual" (as the I Ching calls it), or true nature.
In the Yi Fa society you work at your own pace, you can take it fast or slow, but the goal is to develop a regular and daily practice that can fit into your life and that serves as a foundation to more advanced work. You are expected to be trying to keep working on this, and developing your discipline and virtue.
Membership in the Yi Fa Society requires that you give a monthly donation; the amount is your own choice, based on your own means and level of value you find in the work.
If you are interested in membership in the Yi Fa Society please contact me via private message on Facebook or G+.
There's usually only three reasons why someone wouldn't be accepted: if they didn't seem to have a serious interest in actually working the system, if they're interested in learning the system for totally wrong reasons, or if they were in a situation in their current moment where they wouldn't be able to have enough very basic stability in their life to fulfill the necessities of what it takes to practice effectively.
If you are a member of the Yi Fa Society, you get access to a secret group, where you will be taught additional material not available on this public blog or the Yi Fa Society Youtube Playlist. This includes more elaborate guidance to how to practice Yi Fa Qi Gong, secrets of the I Ching, guidance for meditations, other special techniques, and lots of files of teaching to help you in your advancement.
The group also provides you with the opportunity to interact with other members, and to present your questions and experiences to me for help and advice. Members of the Yi Fa Society can write me any time (and are encouraged to do so AT LEAST once a month as a minimum) to let me know how they're doing and to keep them guided and motivated in their advancement.
This is at level 1. There are 8 levels in total in the Yi Fa Society, and you have to fulfill certain work in order to move up to the next level each time (no one gets to go up just based on time served or special friendship or donations, or anything like that; this isn't about getting fancy titles, it's about learning how to master yourself and your inner being and outer world).
While level 1 is mainly about improving on the core and basic Yi Fa practices, from level 2 and up you get all kinds of new material including new and secret Qi Gong practices and I Ching secrets not available to the public. You also receive training in techniques of advanced meditations (and what could be called 'magick') for working with your Qi, De and Gong (the three types of spiritual/alchemical forces you use in the Yi Fa system). Each level works progressively in guiding you to self-transformation, an alchemical process to manifest your "Superior Individual" (as the I Ching calls it), or true nature.
In the Yi Fa society you work at your own pace, you can take it fast or slow, but the goal is to develop a regular and daily practice that can fit into your life and that serves as a foundation to more advanced work. You are expected to be trying to keep working on this, and developing your discipline and virtue.
Membership in the Yi Fa Society requires that you give a monthly donation; the amount is your own choice, based on your own means and level of value you find in the work.
If you are interested in membership in the Yi Fa Society please contact me via private message on Facebook or G+.
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
The Yi Fa Society and The Western Esoteric Tradtion
The structure of the Yi Fa Society and its curriculum is based on techniques of eastern origin (primarily the I Ching and Qi Gong). How does it relate to the western esoteric tradition?
In the first place, it bears reiterating that the Yi Fa Society is not a "chinese" esoteric system. It is a Universal system. This does not mean that it is some sort of mishmash or lacking solid foundations; but that the fundamental formula of its work is a universal formula.
In truth, while there are eastern and western religions, or eastern and western mythologies, or eastern and western techniques, there is no such thing as a true mystery school that is "eastern" or "western". All true systems are Universal system, because they deal with the human experience.
The fundamental purpose of all mystery schools is self-transformation. The fundamental formula of self transformation can be summarized as "Awareness cultivation + Concentration discipline + Virtue training". All systems of eastern esoteric or western esoteric origins use that formula. Even the basic expression of any mystery school is going to be the same: it will be based on training in Symbolic Language, plus training in Cosmology (that is, a abstract 'mapping' of reality) plus training in a set of practices to allow one to manifest and apply one's Will.
In practical terms, there is a significant similarity between the training system of the Yi Fa Society and the training system of magical schools like the A.'.A.'. or the Golden Dawn. These western schools rely on a combination of mystical teaching, meditative practices, and 'magick' (which is the application of Will to create Change). The Yi Fa society combines the mystical teaching in the principles expressed in the I Ching, meditative practices in Qi Gong, and training in the application of Qi, De, and Gong to generate Change in one's own being and the world.
It can thus be understood as a 'parallel system', which matches the same goals as that of western magick, but in a different way. It is in fact complementary to the training that western magical systems provide, and training in the symbolic language and cosmology of the I Ching, in the physical cultivation and meditative practices of Qi Gong, and in the secret techniques for utilizing one's Qi, can all serve to strengthen anyone who is already working with a western system. It provides a new perspective, and new skills to enhance one's existing techniques.
If you are interested in applying for membership in the Yi Fa Society, please contact us here, on Facebook, or on Google+.
In the first place, it bears reiterating that the Yi Fa Society is not a "chinese" esoteric system. It is a Universal system. This does not mean that it is some sort of mishmash or lacking solid foundations; but that the fundamental formula of its work is a universal formula.
In truth, while there are eastern and western religions, or eastern and western mythologies, or eastern and western techniques, there is no such thing as a true mystery school that is "eastern" or "western". All true systems are Universal system, because they deal with the human experience.
The fundamental purpose of all mystery schools is self-transformation. The fundamental formula of self transformation can be summarized as "Awareness cultivation + Concentration discipline + Virtue training". All systems of eastern esoteric or western esoteric origins use that formula. Even the basic expression of any mystery school is going to be the same: it will be based on training in Symbolic Language, plus training in Cosmology (that is, a abstract 'mapping' of reality) plus training in a set of practices to allow one to manifest and apply one's Will.
In practical terms, there is a significant similarity between the training system of the Yi Fa Society and the training system of magical schools like the A.'.A.'. or the Golden Dawn. These western schools rely on a combination of mystical teaching, meditative practices, and 'magick' (which is the application of Will to create Change). The Yi Fa society combines the mystical teaching in the principles expressed in the I Ching, meditative practices in Qi Gong, and training in the application of Qi, De, and Gong to generate Change in one's own being and the world.
It can thus be understood as a 'parallel system', which matches the same goals as that of western magick, but in a different way. It is in fact complementary to the training that western magical systems provide, and training in the symbolic language and cosmology of the I Ching, in the physical cultivation and meditative practices of Qi Gong, and in the secret techniques for utilizing one's Qi, can all serve to strengthen anyone who is already working with a western system. It provides a new perspective, and new skills to enhance one's existing techniques.
If you are interested in applying for membership in the Yi Fa Society, please contact us here, on Facebook, or on Google+.
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