AUTHOR’S CORNER
FALCON BOOKS INTERVIEWS
EXPLORING LITERATURE
With Virgil discussing: Elemental Equilibrium
Author’s Corner is a platform to explore literature ranging from esoteric to historical works, offering the opportunity for the author to discuss their titles and for us to find more about them and the reasons behind their work.
Today we are presenting an interview with Virgil, who explored a number of spiritual traditions and magical systems for several years before settling on the one developed by Franz Bardon. Many are familiar with his writings, in particular, those posted to his old blog, Emerald Force. You may also view some of his most recent posts in his new blog, Through Castle Doors.
Thank you, Virgil, for sharing with us your time and the wisdom you have gained while walking the path of a magician.
- Falcon Books: In your book’s preface, you briefly discuss illusory self-transformation and contrast it with genuine self-transformation. Can you give us some thoughts on the difference between the two, and why it’s important for your readers to understand the difference between the two?
Virgil: Illusory self-transformation centers on creating a subjective feeling of being transformed. There are many techniques and exercises that can help people achieve illusory self-transformation. However, illusory self-transformation is not genuine self-transformation. Just because you feel more balanced doesn’t mean you are actually more balanced. Just because you feel you have spiritually evolved doesn’t mean you have actually spiritually evolved. Just because you feel more enlightened doesn’t mean you are actually more enlightened. Just because you feel like you are a better person doesn’t mean you are actually a better person. People study esoteric disciplines like occultism, sorcery, mysticism, and magic for many reasons. Some of them seek illusory self-transformation. They don’t care about becoming a better person. They just want to feel like they have become a better person; after all, it’s a very nice feeling. Others don’t want to become more enlightened. They just want to feel more enlightened because, again, it’s a nice feeling. Therefore, they practice exercises that make them feel more enlightened. These people should be looked up to. They know what they want, they identify the exercises that will get them what they want, and they practice those exercises.
People who want to feel like they’ve improved need exercises that provide them with illusory self-transformation. They are very fortunate because the esoteric world is filled with these kinds of exercises. Thus, if they want to feel balanced, they can find many exercises to help them feel more balanced. If they want to feel more spiritually evolved, they can find many exercises to help them feel more spiritually evolved. If they want to feel more enlightened, they can find many exercises to help them feel more enlightened. However, on occasion, a seeker of illusory self-transformation will have the misfortune of running into IIH and mistakenly believing it will provide him with what he wants. IIH won’t make you feel more balanced. It will make you more balanced. There’s a big difference between feeling balanced and being balanced. Similarly, there’s a big difference between feeling enlightened and being enlightened. Someone who seeks illusory self-transformation could waste many years of his life practicing the exercises of IIH and becoming balanced, spiritually evolved, and enlightened when instead he wants to feel balanced, feel spiritually evolved, and feel enlightened.
Similarly, many people who seek genuine self-transformation practice exercises that provide them with illusory self-transformation. They practice exercises that make them feel balanced, spiritually evolved, and enlightened. Then one day, they look back and realize they are just as irritable and impatient as they were the day they first started their esoteric studies. They are just as disorganized and unassertive as they were the day they performed their first ritual. They are just as boring and socially awkward as they were the day they first learned about the Tree of Life. They are just as arrogant and selfish as they were the day they built their first wand. They are just as dishonest and insecure as they were the day they bought their first Tarot deck. This is a huge problem. These people sought genuine self-transformation, but they practiced exercises that brought them only illusory self-transformation.
Someone who seeks illusory self-transformation will not be happy if he practices exercises that can only bring him genuine self-transformation. Someone who seeks genuine self-transformation will not be happy if he practices exercises that can only bring him illusory self-transformation. This is why I brought up the difference between illusory and genuine self-transformation at the beginning of my book. For me, it’s about being honest with my readers. If someone who seeks illusory self-transformation picks up my book only to find a bunch of exercises that can only bring him genuine self-transformation, he’s going to be dismayed and disappointed. He’s going to feel ripped off. I’m not a criminal. I’m not in the business of ripping people off. I don’t like it when people feel ripped off, and I especially don’t like it when people feel ripped off because of something I did. At the beginning of my book, those who seek illusory self-transformation can clearly see that the book is not for them, and quickly return the book in order to get their money back. Those who seek genuine self-transformation will know that my book has a lot to offer them and continue reading.
2. Falcon Books: Would you say that genuine self-transformation is difficult?
Virgil: I’m glad you asked this question because it’s question I really want to answer. However, before I answer your question, I want to discuss the answer to a different question, which is whether most people think genuine self-transformation is difficult. Clearly, they do. If you ask a large number of new Bardonists what part of IIH intimidates them the most, some will say VOM ( vacancy of mind). A few will say merging with Divinity in Steps 9 and 10. However, most of them will say the Step 2 astral work. The Step 2 astral section is one of the biggest reasons many students of the Bardon system don’t believe they have what it takes to work through IIH. And if you think about it, that makes sense. Consider the negative trait of irritability. There are people who spend their entire lives struggling with their irritability. They go to therapy and they attend support groups in hopes of mastering their anger management issues. Irritability is one of those major traits that you need to get rid of before moving on from Step 2. If you spend your whole life struggling to completely root out your irritability, you’ll never more on to Step 3. And in Step 2, Bardon isn’t just asking you to just root out irritability from your personality if you have that negative trait. He’s asking you to root out all of your major negative traits. Most people have between five and fifteen major negative traits. So, the task of completely rooting out one major trait like irritability seems impossible to do in a lifetime, after all, many people do spend their whole lives struggling to keep their anger in check. The Step 2 astral work, it seems, is five to fifteen times harder than that. With the Step 2 astral work, you’re basically giving your personality a complete makeover. When you put it that way, the work seems intimidating and difficult.
However, self-transformation doesn’t have to be difficult. There are two reasons most people find the work of self-transformation difficult. The first is that they aren’t using all of the resources they have at their disposal to carry out this work. The second is that they aren’t using their resources strategically. When you know all of the resources you have at your disposal, use all of the resources you have at your disposal, and use them strategically, then self-transformation is actually enjoyable and easy.
3. Falcon Books: Many people don’t succeed in the Step 2 astral work. Besides lack of faith in their own potential, not knowing the resources available to them, and not using their resources strategically, are there other issues that prevent people from succeeding in the Step 2 astral work?
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Virgil: Yeah, there are quite a few. For example, there are so many misconceptions when it comes to introspection, self-transformation, and self-transformation techniques. These misconceptions often prevent people from practicing self-transformation techniques correctly or from correctly assessing when their personalities are balanced and pure enough for them to move on to Step 3. One common misconception is that you should strive to have an equal number of items on your black and white soul mirrors. This is not true, and I give a detail explanation of why it’s not true in my book. Another common misconception is that when you impregnate food while practicing conscious eating, you fill the food with “energy.” This is false; there is no energy work involved in conscious eating. You’re not moving “energy” into or out of the food. You’re using the power of focused intent to transmute the food into whatever positive quality you want to develop. I could go on and on listing harmful but common misconceptions. People need to study Bardon’s instructions and ascertain the true purpose of his exercises. This will help them identify misconceptions about them.
4. Falcon Books: Your book contains an enormous amount of information about the magical self-transformation techniques found in Steps 1 and 2 – autosuggestion, conscious eating, conscious breathing, using magic of water, etc. Where did you find this information, and how long did it take you to gather it all together?
Virgil: Most of the information comes from my own direct experience working with these techniques over the course of many years. Because of this, people can expect to find a lot of new and original information about Bardon’s self-transformation techniques in my book. I’ve practiced conscious breathing every day for the last decade and a half. You learn a lot about a self-transformation technique when you use it every day over such a long period of time. Sometimes, I’ll be practicing conscious breathing and I’ll think to myself “I wonder what would happen if I make X change to the way I do conscious breathing.” I’ll then change the way I do conscious breathing in X way and observe what effect this has on how effective the technique is. Other times, I’ll be practicing conscious breathing and I’ll think to myself “I wonder what would happen if I remove Y from the way I do conscious breathing.” I’ll then change the way I do conscious breathing by removing Y from my approach to this technique and see how the effectiveness of the technique changes. One time, I was reading a book about acting and the book contained a breathing technique to help actors deal with stage fright. I thought to myself “I wonder what would happen if I combined elements of this technique with Bardon’s conscious breathing technique.” I tried it and observed the results. Another time, I was studying the fighting principals of Shotokan karate and I realized that some of the principles karate practitioners use to defeat their opponents can be used by the magician to “defeat” his negative traits. This is where the IHME technique I explain in my book comes from. Another time, I was talking to an expert in acupuncture. He told me that it is easier for acupuncture needles to slide into the patient if the patient is relaxed. If the patient is stiff or tense, it’s hard for the acupuncture needles to slide into the patient. When you practice conscious breathing, you transmute the air around you into a positive trait like charisma or intelligence and then breathe it in. When you breathe it in, the trait permeates your astra-mental body so that your astra-mental body can assimilate it. I wondered if relaxing could make it easier for the trait to permeate you and your astra-mental body, so I experimented with that idea. All of these are just some of the little incidents over the years which have provided me with the ideas and inspiration I used to experiment with conscious breathing in various ways and gain more knowledge about this self-transformation technique
5. Falcon Books: Would you say your book is a “commentary” on the self-transformation techniques in IIH?
Virgil: No. My book is many things, but it is not a commentary. Let’s consider the technique of conscious breathing again. In IIH, Bardon gives the instructions for conscious breathing, but Bardon wasn’t the clearest writer. When you write a commentary, what you do is give your own instructions for conscious breathing in a clearer manner, or clarify the unclear parts of Bardon’s instructions. The point of my book isn’t to give instructions for conscious breathing, or to give clearer instructions for conscious breathing. There are already enough people doing that. In fact, there are probably too many people doing that, but I digress. The purpose of my book is to present new ways of approaching, modifying, and enhancing the simple conscious breathing technique that Bardon’ teaches in IIH.
6. Falcon Books: There are many articles, essays, and books about the Bardon system. Why is your book different from these other writings? In other words, what makes your book unique?
Virgil: If you think about IIH, it’s about as practical as a book on magic can get. Many people think that because IIH is completely practical, there isn’t any room or use for other books about the Bardon system that are practical. Thus, a lot of writings about the Bardon system are historical, theoretical, or philosophical. My book is purely practical and this sets it apart from the historical, theoretical, and philosophical writings. Now, I’m not trying to downplay the importance of those writings, because I do think they’re very important. I’m just pointing out that they are different from my book because my book is about the practice of self-transformation, rather than about the history, theories, or philosophy of self-transformation.
Now, of course, my book is not the only practical piece of writing about the Bardon system. However, if you look at the existing practical writings about the Bardon system, most of them fall into two categories. The first category consists of commentaries on IIH. The second category consists of books containing supplemental exercises that you can practice in addition to the exercises of IIH. My book does not fall into the first category because it’s not a commentary. If you don’t understand Bardon’s instructions for conscious breathing, then having someone else (e.g. Rawn Clark) explain the instructions to you can be very beneficial. However, you don’t need ten different people explaining the instructions to you. Many people these days are very confused when it comes to Bardon’s exercises because they have ten different people explaining the instructions to them. As far as writing commentaries go, I’m a bit late to the game, so I think there are better uses for my time than to become an eleventh person explaining the instructions for Bardon’s exercises to these people.
Now, if we look at the second category, it becomes clear that my book doesn’t fall into it either. In my first book, I made my position on outside/supplemental exercises very clear. If you have extra time you would like to devote to your magical training, it is far better to spend that time deepening your mastery over the exercises in IIH than to practice exercises from outside of IIH. Thus, my book doesn’t provide a bunch of exercises for you to practice in addition to the exercises of IIH.
So, in summary, my book differs from the historical, theoretical, and philosophical writings because it is practical. It differs from other practical writings because it is not a commentary and it is not a collection of outside exercises.
7. Falcon Books: Are there any alarming trends regarding self-transformation in the Bardon community that you address in your book, or would like to address?
Virgil: I do address several trends that I think are problematic. Here, I’ll discuss one that I ended up deciding not to mention or analyze in my book for space reasons. As I mentioned previously, new students to Bardon’s system are often intimidated by the astral work of Step 2. The most common way to reassure these students and to comfort them is to say something like “Don’t worry. You don’t have to root out all of your negative traits.” While this is true, it’s a bad way of lifting the spirits of those who despair at the Step 2 astral work. You’re basically saying “Yeah, you’re right; rooting out negative traits is hard. However, the Step 2 astral work isn’t as hard as you might expect because you don’t have to root out as many negative traits as you think.” There are all sorts of problems with this. First, you’re reinforcing the false notion that rooting out negative traits is difficult. Second, they might misinterpret you’re statement as an indication that they only have to root out a few of their negative traits, when in fact they do need to root out most of their negative traits. A much better way of providing comfort to those who despair at the Step 2 astral work is to say “Don’t worry. Rooting out negative traits is actually really easy.” You’re not lying to them. Rooting out negative traits is in fact really easy, and if you don’t believe me, just read my book
8. Falcon Books: Can your readers expect more books on the subject of self-transformation from you?
Virgil: Of course! In the second chapter of The Elemental Equilibrium, I briefly discuss strategy. I point out that even if you are using Bardon’s powerful self-transformation techniques, you won’t make much progress if you don’t use them strategically. Strategy is very important in magic, and the second chapter of my new book doesn’t do this vast subject justice. There needs to be a whole book just on this subject and I plan to write such a book as soon as I am able to.
To find out more about Virgil please view his author page. To purchase Elemental Equilibrium or indeed any of his other titles please click on the links below:
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