One day, while doing a scrying with crystal ball, clairaudient and clairvoyant friends with me, after the evocation of a Superior Being, we were taught that the Bardon's system of magick "break", i.e, the psychism of the neophyte, and it was not necesary to break like that, and it is one of the reason of failure of the students in this path.
It is true that this path is very special, and few can realize it, and succeed in it. It is probably because Bardon was already a great magician, and the first steps were very easy for him, he wrote them down like that, not thinking that decades after they would pass in the "must read" of the practicing magicians. But when you begin from zero, or minus ten, Bardon's first book, "Initiation Into Hermetics" an Himalaya ...
In a sense, for me, the system is already of a high level from the beginning, it is necessary to know the first steps, but to dilute them, to make them ludic, and it is mostly the case with ritual magick, it also tends to set good habits in the movements, atmosphere and creation of the magician personnality.
You can, and you maybe should, gather exercices from all over the Magickal world, and practice them in respect to your possibilities, including Astrologia and Alchemia, Lab, and Oratoty parts, Theory, and Practice.
Bardon is presenting us, HIS own system, probably what HE thinks about Magick, refering a lot to Tibetan Buddhism, Kabbalh, Agrippa, Abramelin, Salomon systems, but in a sens without giving really the sources, just by making a modernization of them.
A lot of people write commentaries on F.Bardon system, it's a fashion now to do that seemingly since Rawn Clark produces his own at first, and also William Mistele, that I consider to be the two most important guys on internet being able to master Bardon's system, although it can be useful to some persons to have these commentaries, but they are truly useful only if you practice ...
I personnaly think that one must approach this system with already a background, not jumping in it as a neophyte. I like the scrying of tattwas, rituals of pentagrams, vibrations of mantras to be a set of basic tools. They indirectly teach you a LOT of things like concentration, feeling the energy, vibration of the Names of Power, breathing, relaxation, grounding, being able to 'see' as mental travel, to feel, to ear also... etc.
But a wide part is generally put apart in the world of Magick, the BODY, I mean, the Physical body.
How many student of Bardon really practice everyday "gymnastic" ? Stretching ? Jogging ? No questions on the forums are related to this part. You can imagine it is because students practice them with ease, but no one asks questions about for example the Rites of the 5 Tibetans, or Hatha Yoga as physical practice, or bodybuilding, HIIT cardio, the role of martial arts... There is a real imbalance somewhere, and even the Introspection exercize seems to not reveal this when investigating.
The role of physical exercice in Magick is :
- FEELING your body !! Yes aches are important ! Don't supress them with meds, that's silly.
- Lymph epuration (glues), by movement you make a massage of ganglias
- Skin epuration (crystals) with sweat
- Calcification of bones by contracting your muscles
- Equilibrium
- Reflexes
- Power, strenght
- Massages of internal organs
- Massages of the fascias
- Avoiding the decreasing of natural hormons
- Empowering the chakras
- Psychologic developpement, as pushing your limits, tasting the power of Mars and Fire, and Earth, practicing exercices that you detest : what you hate in sport (like squats, or benching, whatever) say something of your body/mind relationship, and working what you detest will push you to a higher level of developement.
- Creating a brain/muscle relationship, feeling the contraction in your body when you are not relaxed (see differential relaxation of Edmund Jacobson : in "You must relax" - it's a book).
- Feeling good ! By the release of dopamine !
- Being in a better health
- Alkalazing your blood stream (all illnesses are created by an acidic ground)
- Changing your relationship to food (tabacco, coffee, alcohol, icecreams and junk fast "food", sodas), sleep, and your body, health ... etc.
- Stretching for fascias, muscles, etc makes room for the blood and nutriments rishing in the muscle after the effort.
- Giving you more energy and regulating sleep. No, sport do not tire you unless you go to an extreme limit, it unblocks some energy in you and makes you feel stronger after the effort. You also develop a "good fatigue", regulating sleep hours and the sleep by itself.
You have NO EXCUSES to not practice a holistic physical activity !!
Holistic means this : Cardio, Muscular, and Stretching.
Dietetic, nutrition, and cooking lessons should also be part of the Magus system. It's a whole system of life that must be practiced, because everything interfers and act on everything. Let me stress this once again, because I believe in the virtues of repetition and BOLT things :
Everything interfers and act on everything.
This is why if one want to practice Magick, or energetical activities one MUST regulate sleep, activities, nutrition, breathing, etc. It is not complicated to understand.
You an replicate that Magick is a mental, astral, energetical practice and the body is not something predominantly stressed. Maybe because at first the Magicians stressed more on Prayers and rituals, not really on preparation of occult senses, etc. But now that these more "ethereal" practices are set and well understood, one should go deeper into the physical realm and confront himself where he is not going : his own body, his own structure. We are spiritual begin having a physical experience. We are not totally energetical beings like Undines or Salamanders, Sylphes, even Gnomes, that are nonetheless close to the physical realm. We have a body.
Take care of it. Clean it. Eat well. Avoid smoking, processed food, sodas, coffee, tobacco, drugs, chaotic sleep hours, inaction ... Fast sometime.
Some links about Bardon's system and commentaries :
http://justinbthemagician.blogspot.fr/2012/06/bardon-commentary.html
http://raydelsole.wordpress.com/
http://www.hermeticresearch.org/
http://forums.vsociety.net/index.php?topic=15084.0
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FranzBardonMagi/
http://fbf.hermetics.com/index.php
http://fr.scribd.com/doc/46090051/Antonin-Zadak-on-Hermetics
http://beyondchaosmagick.wordpress.com/initiation-into-hermetics/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWimMvJ1BiM
http://fr.scribd.com/doc/24960988/IIH-Commentary-Practical
http://www.archivhermetischertexte.at/emil-stejnar/interview-gnostika-english
In french :
http://www.moryason.com/Frabato/html/decoustejnar.html
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Bardon
http://www.claire-lumiere.com/f8-chemin-de-la-veritable-initiation-magique
