Copyright (C) 1998 by William Mistele. All rights reserved.  

Finding the Undine in Yourself:  Isaphil's Meditation on Water

This article is a summary of the undine Isaphil's meditation for mastering
the water element.  It reflects her own nature and qualities.  Meeting
Isaphil is like encountering the ocean in the form of a woman whose soul
has been woven out of moonlight fall ing into the ocean depths.  This
meditation is one way for exploring and becoming familiar with that vast
expanse of etheric and astral energies with which the oceans vibrate. 
   Isaphil also has her own perspective on the 28 mansions of the moon. 
Isaphil is a master of the magick and the vast treasures of spirit hidden
within these lunar mansions.  I have taken the liberty of briefly
introducing the first five of these mansio ns as Isaphil might discuss
them if she were teaching a seminar to human beings.

The Process:  The basic procedure is to study through imagination and
observation every aspect of the water element in nature that you can.
Then, through meditation and mental projection, we probe further into the
etheric vibration, that is, the energy di rectly underlying the physical
substance of water in nature.  At this point, we are ready to contemplate
the element of water on the astral plane. 
    The astral qualities of water are very similar to the astral energies
we encounter in human beings who are loving--there is empathy,
sensitivity, tenderness, and affection.  As you expand your aura and
identify with an expanse of etheric and astral watery energy, you also
begin to sense something numinous, wonderful, and awesome--the water
element on our planet is a reflection of omnipresent, all-encompassing
love.  The final step involves strengthening this awareness so its
influence can be felt in t he way we live our lives.

Step 1. You observe, watch, taste, touch, smell, listen to, contemplate,
and then become one with the water element in all its various expressions
in nature.  You especially sense and identify with the magnetism which
draws water molecules together.  You become the rain, the cloud, the fog,
water evaporating, a stream, river, lake, water table, well, ocean, tide,
current, iceberg, ice cap, and wave breaking on the shore. 
    By projecting your mind into nature, you note the sensations and
associations you have with water.  In doing this, you begin to become
aware of the more subtle energies within water in all its forms.  In my
different dialogues with the undines, they o ften lead me into exploring
the magical properties of the different aspects of water in nature. 
    The first step, then, starts with the mental plane. You visualize and
imaginatively explore the water element.  There are countless ways to
proceed according to each individual's inclinations.  For myself, I recall
sitting yesterday at Sandy Beach.  T hen I see and feel myself floating in
the water just beyond where the surf breaks. 
     Through imagination, I slowly float out to sea and then sink beneath
the waves.  I walk on the ocean bottom until I reach the deepest point
between Oahu and Molokai.  I note with my mind the changes in water
temperature, pressure, and the presence of
 light at different depths.  I sit on the ocean bottom and get a feeling
for this place. 
    Then I visualize myself out at sea far beyond the islands.  The
Hawaiian Islands are the most isolated islands in the world.  Thousands of
miles of water stretch out around me.  At this point, I notice the water
element is saturating my aura.  I have a feeling for the rhythms, depths,
and energies of the ocean.  My mind has generated some astral and even
etheric impressions and sensations of the water element. 
    Recall that human behavior, thought, and feeling often change when we
are in the presence of another person.  If you have a master in a
spiritual tradition, you may be able to notice an increase in your level
of awareness or at least in your mental fo cus when you enter that
individual's presence.
    If you have someone you love and adore, when you are near that
individual there is a spark added to the electricity of your body.  There
is an extra charge in the level of your energy.  There is an expectation
and a promise of new feelings rising up f rom the depths within yourself. 
    If you imagine you are with this individual right now, you may feel a
sensation in your heart or a change in your skin temperature.  You may
feel a longing which appears as a discomfort in your abdomen.  These are
things you can observe for yourself.
 Our auras alter and reconfigure themselves as we change our environment
and interact with different individuals. 
   If you can notice these sorts of subtle changes in body, energy, and
feeling, then it is also quite possible that you will be able to do the
same with an imaginary image.  In other words, visualize and imagine right
now that you have an undine in front
 of you.  We are running a simulation, a test of our powers of
concentration and creativity.  Notice this undine's beauty.  Notice her
aura or her body posture which in some way speaks of her wisdom. 
   She is an embodiment of the energy of the sea.  She is the intelligence
which dwells within it and her being is fashioned out of the energy
underlying the sea's physical manifestation and the sea's magnificence. 
In her eyes you can see waves breaking on all the shores of the world.  As
she places her hand on your arm you feel the sea's depths and its powers
of attraction.  When she speaks to you, you can hear in her voice the
presence of feelings you have long forgotten, feelings that perhaps you
thou ght were gone forever from your life.  But now they return through
her form, her beauty, and her grace. 
    If we conceive of undines as pure fantasy, they still have the power
to represent an aspect of ourselves--of a state of being and beauty that
exists on some level within us.  If undines do exist on the inner planes
and perhaps manifest from time to ti me in our reality, we can still
master their magick and love without meeting with them.  We can do this by
learning to perceive and feel as they do--by joining our consciousness
with the element of water in nature and on the inner planes.  This
exercise w orks fine purely as an imaginary journey.  It heightens our
awareness of water and suggests to us how to experience different modes of
perception. 
   There is, of course, this other alternative.  You perform these
exercises with the assistance of those who are their master--the actual
undines.  You have to decide for yourself whether undines are real or not. 
It is not my job to persuade anyone to b elieve in something they can not
see.  I am not an evangelist selling beliefs in doctrines which other men
conceive.  I am an explorer.  I report on my experiences.  I am a witness
to the beauty of the universe.  My voice is a gift in service to the myste
ries of love.  I am interested in undines because they have a great deal
to communicate in this area. 
    But how would we tell the difference between an imaginary picture or
holographic image of an undine and the real thing?  There is actually a
lot that could be said about this topic.  If you enter into a dream state
as is done in lucid dreaming, the image produced by your imagination can
become as real as the experiences which occur within a dream. 
    The undine you imagine responds to you in every conceivable way just
like a real woman except that the undine also possesses the magick of
water.  Depending on the connection between your conscious mind and the
collective unconscious, your image can b ecome a powerful evocation at
least in terms of energy and sensations.  The psychologist John Sanford
briefly describes this method of dialoguing in his book, The Invisible
Partners. 
   You will notice in Tibetan Buddhism, however, that the images in
Buddhist tantra are visualized by practitioners for many years from within
a state of profound meditation.  In this case, your imaginary being can
gain its own life.  It develops its own instinct for survival and its
intelligence and responsiveness can become independent of your mind. 
    Such as entity can serve to entice you to offer it more attention or,
if you do it correctly, it can inspire you like a guide to the inner
planes and dimensions.  But because of the chance of mistakes in this
area, Tibetans almost always insist on dis solving the energy in your
thought creation immediately after each practice session.  After all,
Buddhism is about non-attachment.  Buddhists generally do not like to
accumulate astral and etheric energy on the inner planes to serve as
backup for their ri tuals even though this is a common practice in many
esoteric traditions. 
   To put it simply without elaborating, it is possible to create an
undine from out of your own imagination.  It starts as a mental conception
or image.  It takes on feeling and astral energy and then eventually it
has the etheric vitality and vibration of water in it as well.  Tibetans
and others also like to shift their consciousness into these constructed
images or yidams.  Your imaginary creation becomes an idealized image of a
being or a symbol of a state of awareness which embodies all that you see
k to learn. 
  You can do this as well.  Just shift your mind into the form of an
undine or merman if you like.  We have already been exploring the water
element.  This step makes it a little easier to sense and interact with an
undine should you be near one.  This pr ocedure is also similar to mental
wandering in which you place your mind into water and alter your
consciousness to blend with its life. 
   Now a great deal can be said about the kinds of connections human
beings can form with beings on the inner planes.  Evocation is a form of
connection.  Mental wandering creates another kind.  You can match your
aura to the being you are approaching or you can change your aura so you
embody its highest form of inspiration.  And, of course, you can present
yourself with your everyday personality though in this case you still need
some means for opening the gate to the undine's domain. 
    Magicians typically create an energy field which is inviting enough
that the undine feels completely at ease.  You are being generous and
helpful when you create a surcharge of energy of the right qualities which
the undine can use to manifest or to i nteract with you.  To do this, you
basically imagine water in and around yourself and also refine that
vibration by some contemplation--you review water's nature and attune your
mind to water's beauty and essence. 
   I have still not answered the question--how is interacting with a real
undine different than what might occur within a dream or by means of
psychic creation?  Say your imagination is very good, the equal of Steven
Spielberg.  Spielberg can visualize a character in a scene and conjure up
the reality of the situation with all the dramatic and affective elements
present.  This is why he is good at directing.  He has already visualized,
entered, and experienced the event before he films it. 
   If you apply Spielberg's visualization ability to psychic imagery, you
can create a picture which puts you directly in touch with the archetypal
energies of the collective unconscious and also with the astral plane of
the undines.  The undine you imagi ne becomes a vehicle for channeling
etheric and astral watery sensations and feelings. 
   If I imagine an undine in front of me and ask her, "Tell me something
about the water element I don't already know?"  The creature I visualize
replies immediately and with power in a challenging manner.  She is ready
to take me one step further beyond my own experience with water. 
    She says, "What you don't know about water is how to let go.  You
don't know how to become the waves of an ocean that encircles the globe by
both day and by night.  You don't know how to become the cold current that
circulates down into the depths fro m the poles to rise at the equator. 
You don't know that journey.  You don't offer that renewing power to
others." 
    This image I have created in my imagination of an undine can speak
freely from the depths of myself and also it takes me more deeply into
nature.  Imagination is itself a magical power.  On the other hand, if I
call the undine Isaphil to come here int o my room, I notice the
difference right away. 
    She is here now.  Isaphil is like an ancient power of the earth whose
beauty makes her forever young and full of new life.  I could try to say
that she is part of myself, but the power in her etheric and astral bodies
goes way off the spectrum of anyt hing I can imagine.  Through imagination
and meditation, we can find and create sacred energies.  There is no doubt
about this.  But Isaphil is like an ancient guardian of the water element
on earth.  She is able to bestow treasures the human race has no t yet
discovered.  Of course, I could imagine an undine having all these
qualities as well.  But I could not do it with this degree of force, this
amount of beauty, or this depth of presence. 
    Let me just mention the method I am using in these meditations as I
interact with the elementals in nature.  I ask Isaphil to circulate energy
between the two of us in a way which does not accumulate energy but
remains completely natural and relaxed.
 In this way, there is no excessive tension typical of evocation and there
is no accumulation of energy to dissolve afterwards.  However, Isaphil
still has a medium of watery energy to manifest through because I have
worked with the water element for many
 years.  The image of the ocean and its energy are easily evoked by my
memory. 
  The circulating of energy between us starts immediately.  Its a psychic
connection but it is analogous to everyday experience.  You can hold
another individual's hands and share caring and empathy.  You can breathe
together holding hands--as one inhales , the other exhales.  This may
strengthen your connection by emphasizing the polarity of your auras. 
    You can circulate the vitality in your meridians through each other's
bodies.  You can join your hearts or link your minds telepathically.  You
can open yourself so you feel each other's feelings and think each other's
thoughts.  All of these things a re implied and occur on some level and to
some extent when I ask Isaphil to form a circulation of energy between us.
    I would also point out that I have spent many hours over the last
several decades working with other individuals in a psychic manner. I have
practiced and meditated with them on creating various energy states and
also circulating energy between us.  I
 have learned from others a great deal about what can be done when you
join your auras in these ways. 
    Consequently, there is only a slight difference in procedure when I
perform the same exercises with an elemental being.  Circulating and
exchanging energy with a being on the inner planes requires only a little
more concentration.  You need something to take the place of the telephone
or the means through which you are working together.  For example, to make
a connection to the inner plane being you can use a sigil, speak the
elemental's name, or focus on the elemental's aura from within an akashic
tr ance.
    Here are some of the differences between working with Isaphil as
compared to working with an image I have conjured up purely through
imagination.  First of all, there is an energy exchange occurring without
any effort on my part.  For example, there i s a soft, caressing flow of
watery sensations all over my body.  These sensations are relaxing,
soothing, and releasing.  There is also a cleansing, cooling sensation I
can feel inside my body as well. 
    As the energy reaches my heart, I can almost hear a voice singing,
"Awake, awake. Feel the thrill--a thousand sensations you have never felt,
a thousand dreams human beings have never dreamed:  to kiss with the
passion of the sea, to give and to recei ve without limitations, without
hesitation." 
   I also feel myself pulled into the astral domain of Isaphil.  I am
within the ocean but I am sharing some of Isaphil's modes of perception. 
I can look over and see an iceberg in the distance but now I feel the
iceberg's energy within my own body as I look.  I feel the frozen, fresh
water of the ice caressed by salt water the way one person's body presses
against another. 
    I pull myself out of the water and sit on a piece of flat ice in an
arctic bay.  The open water that has not frozen is still like a mirror. 
The sun is dim and distant in the sky.  There is no discomfort, no need
for a sweat suit to feel at ease. 
    An undine can be thrilled and having fun even when nothing is
happening.  Human conception has no part to play.  My body becomes the
arctic bay.  The ice and the water are full of feeling both exciting and
enchanting:  they join together wild laughter
 and solemn, majestic meditations as the stars circle and dance in the sky
through the night. 
    This undine has a profound serenity which is astonishing in its
capacity to rejuvenate and transform your outlook on life.  She has no
need to communicate or transmit her wisdom to human beings.  But her whole
existence is an invitation and initiation
 into the undine's way of giving and receiving. 
    Working in this way leads to discovering through experience what is
obvious about water--it is free to change its form to flow into any
container.  For human beings, this means learning to become this open,
receptive, and receiving.  This involves not ing our tendency to identify
with our body and form but also letting go of that form and flowing as
water flows within the world of nature.  We learn to sustain consciousness
without a body.  To do this, we become in our awareness an open expanse of
magne tic energy.  This is an ecstasy which every undine knows. 
      
 Step 2.  You extend your awareness more deeply into the water element.
The energy vibration of etheric water is stronger and denser than in the
first step.  You feel with greater conviction the hydrogen bonding and
magnetism within solid, liquid, and gas eous water. There is an etheric
energy underlying the physical element of water in nature and this is what
you are after.  It has a rich, contracting quality.  Like water, it has
the power to absorb, contain, and then release energy. 
      Practice extending your awareness over a wider area within the water
element so water's vibratory field feels a part of your aura.  As you do
this, you begin to sense that the etheric energy within water will respond
to your will and imagination.  T his energy responds to your awareness the
way the blood vessels in your body dilate or contract depending on whether
your flex or relax your muscles. 
    Basically, then, we are immersing our consciousness one step deeper
into the element of water in nature.  We are within its etheric energy. 
If we concentrate on a stream, the stream is all that exists within our
consciousness.  We hear the water spla shing and feel it surging around
rocks and through the sand as it flows down stream.  We become that stream
of physical water and etheric energy moving along.  In doing this, there
comes a point where the stream feels like the substance of our body. 
   Isaphil emphasizes working with the image of being deep beneath the
surface of the ocean.  Water extends far above and below you.  And you
concentrate on an area of ocean miles across.  You memorize and
internalize this etheric vibration of water aroun d you.  This water
energy then serves as a magnifying glass and amplifying device for
heightening the impressions you receive especially as we go on to the next
step. 
    I mention elsewhere that a Taoist master I once knew refused to teach
his American students about the water element.  They could learn movements
expressing air, earth, and fire, but not water.  They just could not get
the hang of letting go and flowin g.  When you meditate without the water
element, your energy becomes too dry and intense.  Your aura becomes over
charged like a pressure cooker. 
    Traditionally, this was appropriate for those practicing the martial
arts.  It is also appropriate for jet fighter pilots who wear special gear
to keep the blood in their bodies from gravitating to their legs when they
are flying at multiple g's.  Bot h martial artists and jet pilots have to
be ready to defend their lives at any time.  They can not afford to allow
the blood to drain out of their heads when they are under attack. 
   But there is a down side when you lose your connection to water. 
Empathy, serenity, intimacy and affection in human interaction, and
clairfeeling are lost.  I tried to suggest to this master some ways to
teach water but he shook his head as if to say , "Its not worth the
effort."  He was a man in a hurry. 
   Water is not in a hurry.  It knows how to slow down, to flow, and be
still like a pool, or stretch out like an ocean.  Oh, its true--water can
be a flash flood surging down a valley or a tsunami.  The tsunami moves at
hundreds of miles an hour on the o pen sea but it is barely a few inches
high and you hardly notice it passing by--that is, until you try to
confine its momentum in a narrow bay and then it breaks into huge waves. 
   For Isaphil, the water element contains the treasures of the
twenty-eight mansions of the moon and mankind will not receive this wisdom
until we are more at peace with the etheric nature of water.  If I stand
up in this moment and move my body around, I feel in my mind I have become
an octopus with eight arms, suction cups and all, flowing over the bottom
of the ocean.  I feel like a whale breaching or the dolphin slipping and
sliding upon the bow waves of a freighter. 
    I become the eel slithering, the jelly fish floating, the reef fish at
the edge of the wave's crest, the butterfly shrimp in the tide pool, the
crab on the rock, and the sea slug underneath.  I am within all of these
at once.  And I am the life force sustaining their existence.  I become
water nourishing them all without bias.  I have no need to place myself in
a specific location or utilize form identification.  I am an expanse of
water. 
   This second step leads us to where we feel comfortable and relaxed in
extending our awareness through miles of the sea.  The waves, currents,
and tides feel like our own blood flowing.  The water is like the
substance of our own body.  The sensations we can achieve in this practice
are remarkable calming. 
     I realize I am asking a lot. I am asking you to hold the sea within
your heart.  I know for many individuals the sea is something out
there--its big, it has waves, and ships cross over it carrying cargo. But
listen for a few moments to what I am sayi ng. 
    I am suggesting the seas exist here on earth to teach the human race
how to experience the divine within ourselves without having to evoke
archangels or to sit at the feet of a world teacher.  All you need is an
open mind and a receptive heart to get a feeling of what I am talking
about.  But we also need this immersion in water for step three.  We need
an undine's power to understand an undine's sense of love and peace. 
    
Step 3. At this point, we focus more on the water element on the astral
plane.  Water has a powerful receptivity.  It receives the heat and light
of the sun.  It receives the light of the moon and stars.  It is
malleable.  It accepts and embraces whatever
 it enfolds. 
   This ability to encompass with great sensitivity and responsiveness is
also called love.  It nurtures, preserves, and draws out the
best--animating and renewing--whatever it touches.  Water circulates
energy and gives birth to life.  Water receives and
 contains within itself the subtle qualities and energies of spirit.  It
reflects these as dreams and visions of what has been, of what is, and of
what shall be. 
    The dense hydrogen bonding between molecules is something you can
learn to feel with your skin.  This etheric energy also has a more subtle
astral energy within it.  The well, the lake, and the sea are full of an
astral magnetism which receive, circul ate, and release energy.  This is
the same energy you find in human beings who are nurturing, empathic, and
loving. 
   The constellations of Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces illustrate these
qualities of water.  Cancer is the capacity to nurtures and to be full of
contentment and happiness so you feel you have a home.  Cancer is both
full and empty and contains a serenity j ust like the moon. 
    Scorpio absorbs and contains within itself desires until they are
strong enough to influence and change the world.  It does this without
losing its own power and charge. Water loves electricity and lightning the
way lovers love passion and intoxicatio n.  It drinks them in with thirsty
lips. 
    Pisces is like the sea.  It has a receptivity so open and vast it can
give of its own substance to heal and to make whole.  With its own energy,
it provide ecstatic dreams of the oneness of life.  The dream of oneness
vibrates within all the waters of
 the earth. 
   But within all three signs is a serenity.  The power and passion in
water is like the intensity of the moon--it binds the tides to rise yet
this force expresses itself in the rhythm of day and night and the cycles
of the seasons.  The waves of the seas
 respond to the winds and the storms. But in the ocean trench is a calm
silence and a quiet presence.  And water is like the crystal ball. 
Sensitive to the faintest trace of desire and need on all four planes of
being, it perceives how the world unfolds. 

    On this third level, then, you become an even more subtle, watery
magnetism.  You are the substance and essence of the power that nurtures
and sustains life.  You are receptive to the presence of soul life and to
all transformations of energy.  You ac cept into yourself the light of the
sun, moon, and stars.  You store their power and reveal the songs within
their hearts.  When you get this right, your aura is a reflection on earth
of omnipresent, all-encompassing love--a beauty and ecstasy that are sa
cred in their intensity. 
    
Mansions of the Moon

As I mentioned at the beginning, Isaphil's aura is like moonlight made
into the form of an undine.  She shines with soft and gentle lunar light. 
As I meditate with her, I sense that the 28 mansions of the moon are part
of her awareness. 
    Here I describe the first five mansions primarily in terms of their
"psychological" qualities.  Isaphil has no psyche or identity as compared
to human beings.  She is an intelligence conscious of the water element in
nature. 
     When Isaphil interacts with a specific human being, the light in her
aura and the qualities of her astral body are shaped to fit the individual
with whom she is interacting.  This is not to say that she does not
present herself in a consistent and at tractive manner.  It is just that
we as human beings bring our own experience to the encounter. We see that
part of her which can be turned into something familiar. 
   The mansions of the moon relate the degrees of the zodiac. Some
individuals think in terms of 29 mansions though 28 mansions are a little
more standard.  If you take 360 degrees and divide by 28, you get about
12.86 degrees per mansion rounded off.  If
 you begin with the sign of Aries, the first mansion goes from 0 to 12.86,
or let's say, 13 degrees Aries.  The second mansion goes from 13 to 26
degrees Aries.  The third from 26 Aries to 9 degrees Taurus and so on. 
   Bardon names the spirits who are heads of these 28 lunar mansions
within the sphere of the moon.  Various writers discuss the mansions in
different ways.  The system of Hindu astrology also goes into detail in
describing the lunar mansions but they use
 a system of symbols and qualities which is somewhat difficult to relate
to Western thought.

The first mansion:  This is the completion you need within yourself to
rise to your highest potential.  It is the foundation your life needs in
terms of inner well-being and peace so you can rally forth with courage
and conviction.  This is similar to the
 sign of Aries, the warrior.  It is dynamic and masterful.  It is like
water with an electrical charge. 
    Water has a power side to it.  It tosses huge boulders down streams. 
It cuts through granite mountains with its streams.  It moves as gigantic
currents beneath the seas.  It attracts lightning from clouds.  It causes
rocks to split. It rallies its st rength as it initiates ice ages.  The
earthzone Aries spirit Tabori teaches how to work with water in a way
similar to what Isaphil reflects in herself through this first mansion of
the moon. 
   Water has the strength to conduct and to encompass the greatest desire. 
It can absorb heat in nature as well as the fiery light of the sun.  Its
magnetism can contain the electrical fluid in magick.  It does all of this
without diminishing its recepti ve nature or losing its power of
restoration. 
   For every fiery desire or electrical charge within will, water offers a
peace and well-being of equal power so that the rhythms and cycles of
nature are preserved.  In this way, the active principles within the
universe are able to join with--arise fro m and return to--a place of
peace and rest.  These are water's depths. 
   The first mansion is also the energy you need to get up and to get
going.  It is your coach on a track time and the master sergeant in the
marines.  It is the first ray of light breaking through your window pane
after a cold winter's night. It is unmit igated enthusiasm directed by a
strong will. 
   What does water have to do with will power, enthusiasm, courage, and
conviction?  Water stores an incredibly amount of energy--enough to change
the climate of continents, absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and
maintain the temperature of the p lanet at a fairly constant level.  When
the warm waters of El Nino occur, weather patterns change over four
continents.  In fact, ocean currents are so important that if you alter
one of these great rivers which flow beneath the surface of our oceans,
you
 may see the onset of ice age as a result.  This first mansion celebrates
the power in water which is also a power of will and enthusiasm within
ourselves. 
   Again, water receives, stores, and transmits energy.  The process may
seem very slow and undramatic.  But the waters of the earth influence
everything on this planet. 
  In our basic exercise, we explore sensations and feelings as we extend
our awareness through miles of water in the ocean.  In the first mansion,
we sense the stored energy within that water.  That power then feels a
part of our own auras. 
   Isaphil is astonishingly receptive and feminine.  She is not drawn to
power but to love and healing. Yet she is aware of water's nature and of
what can be done when you use the magick within water.  A powerful will is
available to her as second nature. 
  She just does not find asserting her will to be very interesting. 
    We can discuss the treasure within the first lunar mansion in a better
way by describing it as a daring and courageous desire to do something
new.  It is a boundless enthusiasm to express the depths of our feelings.
It is also a feminine receptivity a ble to encompass the greater power
because of the peace and rest it offers. 

Second mansion:  This relates to lucid dreaming.  You can wake up in a
dream and change the mood, feelings, and scenes by force of imagination. 
When you do this, you realize your state of inspiration is your own
responsibility.  It rises and diminishes a ccording to the way you
maintain your astral body.
   You can explore lucid dreaming in various ways.  After you wake up from
a dream at night or in the morning, relax and keep the dream going to see
what happens next.  The brain waves relating to the dream state continue
for five minutes or so after you awake so this a good time to practice. 
   You can also redream the dream shaping it over again from the beginning
in a way more satisfying.  This trains you to use your astral body in a
creative way.  You flow within and alter feelings in a natural manner. 
   Part of the process of lucid dreaming is realizing that the dream comes
in part from a level of yourself outside of conscious thought.  You can
force the dream to go a certain way but then you risk draining the dream
of its spontaneity and its enchantm ent.  A lucid dream automatically has
a sense of awe and wonder in it.  This is because you are continuously on
the edge of the unknown, of touching something new. 
    In the dream are feelings, thoughts, and sensations you have never
encountered before.  Control is not the issue.  It is possible to stay
awake and alert while dreaming and let the dream's energy flow through you
without manipulating it.  You notice i t and respond to it with a delicate
touch.  After a while, you realize you can discover the same awe and
wonder when you are awake.  It never goes away. 
   Also, in a state in-between dreaming and being awake as well as within
lucid dreaming it is possible to practice many different kinds of
meditation.  In other words, as you fall asleep or are waking up, you can
practice working with these meditations o n water as we have been doing or
other exercises of a similar nature.  By doing this, you strengthen parts
of your astral body and mind which you normally do not work with. 
   But there is more than the dream state in this second mansion.  You
also feel like you are conscious within a state of deep, dreamless sleep. 
In other words, you can wake up within dreamless sleep as well.  They do
not tell you about this in lucid dre aming seminars because they have not
figured out how to get to this place.  Being here enables you to maintain
a high degree of relaxation and to view the world from a completely
different perspective--one free of tension. 
  The former Swami Rama could measure four separate states of conscious at
once when tested at the Menninger Institute.  His brain could
simultaneously emit alpha, beta, theta, and delta brain waves.  He could
be in a deep, dreamless state and still be ab le to repeat with accuracy
what was said by the scientists in the room who were studying him.
   Some religions study and celebrate the rhythms of nature.  These
rhythms are seen in the alteration of day and night, the seasons, the
phases of the moon, and the planets' movements.  This second mansion is a
level of consciousness from which we can se nse these deeper pulses and
movements of life within ourselves. 

Third mansion: The third mansion is a transcendence--you view life as if
from outside, from a distance. You realize then how fragile, delicate, and
wonderful life is.  You see it from a place beyond desire and need and yet
you cherish the feelings and con nections which life experience generate. 
   Part of the moon's quality is its reflective capacity.  When an
individual looks back at his life during a period of major transition,
there is this opportunity to reflect and to gain oversight.  This
detachment and calmness permit clarity of understan ding.  You understand
the forces which have shaped your course, why you made the choices you
have, and what remains undone.
   This detachment is also a compassion.  You accept all that you are and
all that has befallen you.  You embrace who you are with tenderness. 
There is no need at this point for denial, guilt, or resentment.  You are
in place of the heart where emotions can no longer be twisted or
distorted.  You are free to be at peace and to see the beauty that shines
within and around you like the stars that shine in the dark. 
   Detachment like this does not make you feel like a sojourner or visitor
who is passing through and only partly connected to life.  Instead, you
feel from within the depths of yourself a love that flows to all who enter
your life like the moon's light s hining down during the night.  This
detachment does not mean your passions are less in strength.  They are
free of tension and the urgent need for release because your soul now
possesses a inner expansiveness.  Your passions are free to be expressed
in wa ys which provide the deepest happiness and enable the greatest
satisfaction.
   We can imagine the point of view of this third mansion of the moon in
the following way.  As a parent, you think about your family.  You
remember the birth of your children and their youth.  You recall the major
and minor events as they have grown up. 
 You know they shall have children and that one day you will be gone. 
   What you wish to do is to impart a blessing--that wherever they are,
they sense their connection to each other and also a profound support. 
The family provides them with a feeling of belonging, inner peace, and
contentment.  Your love is always with t hem to strengthen their hearts.
    In this example, the family has become an inner kingdom or landscape
of the soul which provides your children a home.  They have roots and all
their needs are acknowledged.  Their love continuously circulates from one
to the other. 
   I realize most families are not like this but occasionally you can find
one or two.  The members of these families are accepting and receptive to
each other like water.  Their hearts are connected and reflect each other
others' needs and desires the wa y the moon reflects the light of the sun
during the night.  This desire to impart blessing and connection with
others is a treasure of transcendence and compassion--the ability to touch
life with tenderness--belonging to the third mansion of the moon. 

Fourth mansion:  This fourth mansion is similar to the energy of Taurus. 
It is feeling solid and grounded in yourself.  You enjoy your work, your
recreation, and you are never inattentive.  But there remains a
temptation--to give all of yourself to your work. 
   In work, you attain a state of mind which transcends the ages of time. 
Mankind from its beginning to its end will strive to accomplish great
things.  You feel part of this timeless endeavor--to remake the world and
yourself into something better.
   The undine Isaphil can detect this energy of the constellation of
Taurus as it vibrates within the water element on earth.  This energy
shines from her aura the way the full moon reflects the sign of Taurus
when it enters this sign.  Taurus captures an d directs powerful
instinctual drives.  Isaphil, like the fourth mansion of the moon, focuses
these drives into a creative process which expresses itself through works
of love. 
    It is no secret that some people enjoy working.  It gives them
pleasure to be active and productive.  But if we put aside the activities
and focus within, we discover a source which underlies this extroversion.
In the fourth mansion is a state of tran ce immersed in ecstasy.  Within
it, you feel in harmony with nature and cloaked in beauty.  This is a
feeling of profound satisfaction and inner peace with endorphins flooding
your bloodstream. 
   I imagine a son experiences this when he feels the complete love and
also receives the power and inner spirit of his father into himself. 
Stories of legend and myth touch upon this.  Isaac bestows his blessing
upon his son Jacob.  Elijah confers his m antel of power upon his
disciple.  Swami Rama's guru transmitted shatipat to him as a young
student.  In the Mahabarata, the hero Arjuna finally attains recognition
from and union with his divine father.  And Christ declares, "I and the
father are one." 
     This transmission of power and spirit are not separate from
femininity. The son must possess the ability of water to be receptive, to
receive what is given and to store and to sustain its life within himself. 
Then he is able to attain an inner conn ection and to become the conscious
expression of the men, the line of fathers, who have gone before him.
     Again, water has the power to receive and to transmit.  The undine
Isaphil, as a high intelligence within the water element, is giving me my
clearest experience of this inner continuity with past generations.  This
is understandable.  Like the moon, she accepts the radiant power of the
sun and tones it down to shine for the earth when the sun is not present. 
Like the mother with the son, the third mansion reflects the inner spirit
of the masculine more than it does its outer strength.  In this way, the
child or the student of life can be nourished according to his needs. 
   To put this another way, in many traditions the elders who have gone
before are felt to be still present on the inner planes.  There is a
grove, a circle, or a dreamtime landscape where their spirits still
remain.  In the second step of these meditatio ns on water, we worked at
extending our aura through miles of the etheric vibration of the oceans. 
In fourth mansion of the moon, we extend our auras with a sensitivity and
openness which encompasses and accepts the life of those from past times
into our selves.
    The reason Taurus is so strong is that it has this inner connection to
what has gone before.  Water has a passion for overcoming separation and
for transmitting energy from one place to another.  Many individuals lose
this connection to the past espec ially during their teenage years.  They
may spend the rest of their lives without the strength and motivation they
need to complete their work.  The fourth mansion, as expressed through
Isaphil's aura, offers and reveals this empowerment as a natural prop erty
of the water element.

Fifth mansion:  The fifth mansion is effervescent and vivacious.  It is
sparkling and bubbly like champagne, playful, intoxicating, and full of
zest.  It is exciting, enticing, inviting, and interactive. 
   The light of the sun is produced through massive explosions of nuclear
force.  Great flares of plasma surge out from the sun's surface.  Atoms
are so hot and pressurized they fuse.  The light of the moon is soft and
gentle and its surface shines with i ts own florescence.  But when the
moon reflects the light of the sun, some of that enthusiasm still comes
through.  There is a scintillating and arousing influence. 
    We are aware of this aspect of water.  It is the sparkling white drops
in a waterfall, the rain in the rainbow, the spray in the wave breaking on
the beach, in the white cap, and in the water splashing your face.  It is
soft, foamy bubbles slipping ar ound your ankles as you walk in the surf
and the drops of water thrown into the air as the water in a stream slaps
against a rock.  It is the water dropping down, sprinkling, or drizzling
as you walk beneath the leaves of trees still wet from the rain.  I t is
the smell of salty, moist air when you are near the sea and the cool scent
when you approach a desert stream. 
    There is an electrical element present in this fifth lunar mansion as
well.  Trees have an electrical charge which can be measured by a
galvameter.  This charge changes according to the thoughts we think about
the tree.  The electrical flow and resist ance in our skin changes
according to who we are with.  Our eyes change their dilation.  Our pours
open or close.  Our lips become more full or pale and our respiration
alters according to the situation.  We are constantly responding to
non-verbal feedba ck as we interact with others.
    The fifth mansion heightens our ability to transmit and to receive
energy on all levels of our being.  Communication of information is
accompanied by multiple levels of stimulus and response.  Attention is
interested in everything.  The familiar shows
 itself as something new. 
   Some undines, to say the least, seem to be flirtatious.  But what we
describe as flirting may belong to a more fundamental and impersonal
aspect of water.  When you swim in water, the water surrounds you. 
Swirling and eddying, the water generates curr ents as it accompanies and
follows your every move.  This again is water's receptivity, malleability,
and fluidity.
   An undine does the same thing.  She responds to your every sensation,
feeling, and thought vibration.  She gives you her full attention and yet
the cool, magnetic qualities of her aura never diminish. 
   If some of the lunar mansions refer to transcendence, serenity, and
detachment, then this mansion compensates for that calmness.  It focuses
on the present.  You know when you are in touch with this mansion because
you feel you are living on the edge o f the moment. There is a sense of
expectation like the crest of a wave about to break, a cup of cold water
thrown in your face, rain flailing your body, or the sight of a water
spout in the distance.
   When large waves enter a bay, they may become choppy as they are thrown
every which way.  To one individual, this may seem threatening, wild, and
out of control.  To another it is exciting and fascinating.  But the water
in a still pool is the same as in this wild bay--it is soft, receptive,
fluid, and yielding. 
   To define the treasure in the fifth mansion of the moon we might
characterize water in a slightly different way.  We might describe it here
as having a wild serenity, an engaging peace, and an enticing stillness. 
As I said earlier in this essay, an un dine can have fun doing nothing
other than feeling one with its surroundings.  The undine's calm serenity
sparkles with delight and silent joy. 


Step 4. The fourth step adds power to the encompassing love of the third
step.  The quality of the astral in step three is joined to the density
and physical plane influence of the etheric in step two. The love, then,
has the power to heal and to restore life.  It is not just a reflection of
a higher love.  It is not just an inner peace cultivated and created
within ourselves through faith.  It is more active than that.  It creates
union, ecstasy, and oneness of life. 
   Our journey into the water element has followed this course.  We have
projected our consciousness into the many expressions of water in nature. 
We have identified ourselves with water in order to immerse ourselves
within its etheric vibration and the energy underlying it material
manifestation.
   It is here within the energy field of water as a subtle magnetism, and
not merely though thought or conception, that we contemplate and arrive at
the inner essence of water's nature.  By embodying water's receptivity,
responsiveness, and magnetic power , we find ourselves on the astral plane
within a domain where love reigns. 
   At this point, we are learning to think, feel, and perceive as the
undine Isaphil.  We arrive at a clairvoyance which is as peaceful and as
serene as the light of the moon.  The edge of our auras dissolve into a
boundless expanse of all-embracing love which the oceans reflect and
capture as a presence. 
   And yet we are not done.  One step remains--to embody this love on a
denser plane.  The quality of the love we have found becomes cloaked in
etheric substance so its presence is palpable and unmistakable.  We become
a nurturing power that restores, ren ews, and heals.  In this way and by
following this path, the quality of love we have in our hearts becomes an
active force in the world. 
   In the Bardon system, there is a great deal of exploration and
contemplation.  But Bardon insists over and over that everything we find
and attain within ourselves must become a power that can change the world. 
Saints and sages can afford to feel cont ent because of the bliss they
radiate and the wisdom they comprehend. But the magician is in a position
to assume a degree of responsibility for the world.  He exercises
oversight, guides and inspires, and also helps mankind get through its
bottlenecks.
 The fourth step is a reminder for us to be active players in the world in
which we live.