Celtic mystisicm and in particular the stories of the Druids, were the first mythologies I explored in the occult and akin to the Druid practise of Imbas Forosnai, which is a ritual of education that prepares the individual for the divine connection, these myths emphasize learning with a particular attitude. An attitude of openness and inclusion that is intercultural and interdisciplinary, and accepts the truth wherever it is found.
A methodical attitude of inclusion, is what allowed me to span the many avenues of the occult and within the many find the one. A learning focus reflected in the text when I place these seemingly disconnected pieces, of Druid rituals, body analysis and Kabbalah references, under the umbrella of the word occult. It is all interpretations of the one source and when we close our minds to what is a foreign way of thinking, our minds close off to the possibility of learning. This open minded method is immortalized in the Irish story of Partholon.
Partholon was an invading descendent of Noah and survivor of the great flood. He’d come to Ireland, which was a bit of a desert at the time, to settle. When he did, he brought with him three brothers: Fochmare, Eolas and Fios. All of whom were powerful Druids, and the very land sprung lakes and green pastures in their passing. The three brothers represent how to generate a renascence, and a renascence is a revolution in thought resulting in change. A renaissance is a revolution in thought that stimulates a wider cultural change. A mind is nourished with education, and when we educate our minds, we revolutionize our thinking and enrich our receptivity to enlightenment. The dry, dessert of ignorance turns into a green and fertile field of wisdom. Fochmare remembers ancient knowledge. Eolas incorporates new knowledge and Fios, translates foreign knowledge. The gem of illumination is that the knowledge we seek is all about us, we have only to open our minds to learning what is foreign and ancient to renew our connection to it.
Vibrational knowledge is universal knowledge that lays beyond our earthly boundaries. It is the unwritten record of the human collective and where it resides is in the Hall of Records. The Hall of Records is said to be a place deep beneath the pyramids in Egypt but it is also a dimension we descend into by descending into our sub-conscious. The books in the hall are not bound as text. They are books of light and they are not to be read but absorbed. When we absorb the light of these books we absorb the knowledge contained in them. This is the ancient knowledge of Fochmare.
The Hall of Records is one of four mystical states in the sub-conscious. The other three being, the Akasha Well, the Garden of Wisdom and the Lotus Chamber. These four states are symbolized by the Dividing of the Way. The dividing symbol is a circle intersected by two lines that divide it into four equal parts. This very old symbol is still culturally popular although for varying reasons other than mysticism. In Alchemy it is a badge depicting the Four Secrets of Solomon. Outside Mysticism and Alchemy, the symbol is still active in Astrology as the sign for the planet Earth and more recently, as a political emblem in the far right movement, but the better nature of the dividing is best exemplified as the four quadrants of the Medicine Wheel.
The written record is an interpretation, and an interpretation is based on what already exists. Creation of new knowledge lies in us understanding what we see. It is in the act of interpreting what is unrealized, that we generate the new knowledge of Eolas. Eolas creates understanding, Fochmare creates wisdom and Fios gives us the courage to explore knowledge outside of our comfort zone. The three brothers together help to open our minds. An open, educated mind facilitates the intellect and contemplation and silence influence the imaginative.
The practise of Imbas Forosnai cumulates in a three-day ritual of incubation. Incubation is a form of sense deprivation and a time-honoured tool of mystics everywhere. It might not be possible to sit for days, undisturbed in a cave, or like Einstein, command silence in others so you may tink a little, but you can draw the curtains, turn off the phone and banish your responsibilities for a half hour. To starve your senses of input is to clean and prepare the vessel. It opens your third eye.
The constant chatter of the intellects’ calculations distracts us from the invisible flow of the vibration and the impact on our emotions. Our conscious mind dominates our physical body when we are awake and disciplining our intellect to abstain from subverting the will of the subconscious is to become aware. When we empty our minds of chatter, we free it to focus its powers on the subject and when we make that subject our feelings, it allows us to focus our minds on making the connection. The soul resides within us, and we must draw our minds inwards towards it.
Silence forces a conversation with the self and in forced silence the casual body becomes obvious to anyone not schooled in self-awareness. It takes about fifteen minutes for your brain to wind down, empty itself out and register that there is actual silence. Contemplation sessions should be at least that long and routinely scheduled to produce a palpable experience.
Once you have emptied your mind and made room, free your imagination to suspend the Kabbalah in your mind’s eye and apply your intellect to observe your reactions to it. As soon as the mind quiets there is a rush of emotion that fills the space, and it is in this moment that the loops connect. Contemplation of what materializes in the third eye begins the journey of awareness to the emotional being at the core of your body.
A text that aids the individual in contemplation is a scripture. The word scripture is often used to describe religious texts and although I was raised Catholic, I do not practise a specific religion. My interests lie in the universal source that inspires religion and these terms are used to explain metaphorically the processes of my own personal method and should be viewed with a metaphysical, and not a religious intention. Many individuals have opened the same books, read the same myths and found a different meaning.
What elevates a text to become a scripture is its ability to illuminate. There are many cultures and many scriptures. Bibliomancy, a generalized term for turning to a random page in scripture and interpreting what is read, as a resolution to the your query, highlights the opening of your intuition to possibilities we can see with the third eye.
An occulatum is a bibliomancy scripture full of quotes and advice that is read in time of need. Originally passed down by word of mouth, these little snippets of wisdom, were first written on paper and stuffed into medieval walls by the masons building them, to ensure their success. Collected into books, they then spread through Europe after the printing press was invented.
The Vedas are scriptures belonging to the Hindus, and they are some of the oldest in the world. Robert Oppenheimer, the American physicist who piloted the creation of the atomic bomb, once stated that access to these scriptures is the greatest privilege. Ancient though the Veda’s might be, the effort to know ourselves, to become aware of our universal connection, is much older. Forty-thousand-year-old ivory sculptures and bone flutes in Germany. More artifacts hundreds of thousand years old in the Skhul and Blombos Caves of the Middle East and South Africa. Human beings have been struggling to define their dual existence from the very beginning. Scraps of bone and paint chips record pre-history and written history is thought to have begun around 3200 BC. Unlike many other occult canons, the Vedas have come through recorded history avoiding the libricide that has been the sad fate of so much occult knowledge, and this is the great privilege of the Vedas. Whenever I find myself at a loss to find a term in English to define a mystical aspect, I can always find a word for it in Sanskrit. Rich in thousands and thousands of years of continuous human history, the Vedas offer to the global culture a unique connection to occult information. The eye of its occult traditions is predominant in the foreheads of their deities and it is a depiction of the communally shared connection we all have to the otherworldly intuitions of the sub-conscious.
Leave your Comment