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

Tagora, 18 degrees Scorpio,

"If you bring forth what is within you, it will save you.  If you do
not bring forth what is within you, it will destroy you."  The Gospel
of Thomas

Reason for contacting Tagora:  I was visited by the spirit who is the
negative counterpart of Tagora in the earthzone.  Consequently, I
want to be sure I work only with the positive spirit and know the
difference between the two.  
     In my natal chart, my Jupiter is not far from the 18th degree of
Scorpio which relates to Tagora.  Mars and Pluto, the joint rulers of
Scorpio,  are also directly opposite in my natal chart.  This means
there is a tendency for my personal will to be in direct opposition to
the purposes of very powerful individuals and organizations.  There
is also a tendency for those with this astrological aspect to feel
paralyzed and to despair because they are overwhelmed with
feelings of helplessness.  
     On the other hand, this aspect has some advantages.  It enables
you to notice the most secret intentions and motivations of 
individuals and the things going on behind the scenes in
organizations becomes transparent. In other words, the opposition
means you are also constantly exposed to power brokers. Since for a
magician all power derives from akasha and is subject to divine
oversight, it is natural for a magician to sense how power works and
what governs its disposition. 

Scorpio in Earthzone:  If you meditate in the vibration of Scorpio in
the earthzone, you notice how this sign builds and maintains a high
charge of energy.  It is a master of primal desires and it calmly
wields a great deal of power.  
     If Scorpio were a human being, he could be kind and
affectionate like a Boy Scout director or a camp counselor.  You
might think he is sweet like a Cancer and as dedicated to others as a
Pisces.  But this would only be his personality.  Behind his
gentleness is secret power.  He would be the equivalent of the
captain of a nuclear submarine or, more likely,  the field commander
of special forces.  In civilian life, Scorpio would be a  brain surgeon
or the head the National Center for Disease Control.  Scorpio
combines control of hidden powers with the capacity to protect and
to heal others. 

18 degrees Scorpio:  This degree develops great inner strength in
oneself and it also knows how to express affection with others.

Tagora's Domain:  This level of akasha takes primal  energies and
transforms them with love.  In Tagora's domain, it is easy to
experience for yourself the archetypes and divine images which
embody the energies of the seven chakras.  Without having
practiced yoga for decades, you enter states of trance which express
the realizations belonging to the various chakras.  Though the
energies in the chakras are sometimes wild, mysterious, and
overpowering, Tagora will point out to you how love commands
them all. 

Tagora's Sigil:  This sigil combines opposites to such a degree you
are no longer aware that originally there was separation.  Oneness is
the reality.  Separation is an error, a mistake, and a denial of the
purposes of life.  In other words, this sigil evokes a profound state
of love.  As sigils go, this one is rather amazing.

Tagora's Inner Source of Inspiration:  Tagora sees the body as a
temple containing the light and fire of Divine Providence.  We feel
this heat in the warmth of our bodies, in our desires, and as the
longings in our dreams.  Its light is present in all our nerves and
sensory perceptions.  Consciousness reflects its radiance.  Hidden in
desires are the plans and purposes of divinity.  
   When this light is fully present within us, we become
indestructible.  We become divine beings.  Like the light of Divine
Providence, nothing can dim or put out this light. The words, "We
shall put on immortality" summarize the wisdom and inspiration of
the love of which Tagora is a guardian.

Tagora's Outer Aura:  With ease, Tagora works with the entire
spectrum of kundalini and primal energies within a human being. 
These are expressed with poise and serenity.  Though always clear
and calm, the feeling of deep power is always present.  This is
where the lion and the lamb find peace, the king delights in
innocence, and the playful child has the power be needs to
overcome malice and evil.. 

Inner Aura:  As a single battery combines opposite poles, Tagora
synchronizes the energy of two individuals so you feel a fabulous
inner connection and oneness with another.   The rapport is so
great, you feel the other is inside of you and a part of you.  In other
words, though opposite genders and different personalities, you
become one energy system.
     There is a knowledge and power human beings acquire by
building empires and discovering the secrets of nature.  The
knowledge and experience found in the body and soul are not of
lessor power or significance.  Their influence can accomplish as
much if not more than any emperor or scientific genius in shaping
the world we all share.  Love is the lord and the goddess of the path
of inner wisdom.  This is the essence of Tagora's inspiration.

Pathworking:  After briefly drawing Tagora's sigil in the air, I
practice free association.  In a relaxed state of mind, I  shift through
a number of images and memories relating to Scorpio and Tagora. 
After a few minutes, I come upon a familiar experience.  In the
visualization, I am holding hands with a woman.  We have joined
the energy flowing through the main meridians of our bodies.
    This is done by combining the Du Mai and Ren Mai meridians
which run up the back and up the front of the body.  These "extra" 
meridians can be joined so that the chi or vitality flows up the back
and down the front of the body in one circle.  This microcosmic
orbit can also, for example, flow through the arms and hands so it
connects to another individual. 
     This is what I experience now.   The life force as well as the
masculine and feminine vitality of two individuals are joined into
one flow and energy system.  For practitioners of Taoist yoga, this is
easy to do.  It can even be done without being physically present
with one's partner.  Vitality, like psychic energy, requires  no
physical medium in order to circulate between partners who have a
strong rapport.
     In 1981, I walked into the Chinese cultural plaza in New York
City.  Sitting among a group of Chinese students,  I took a lesson in
this meditation from Mantak Chia.  A number of years later,  at a
summer camp,  I met a one of Mantak Chia's students who was
quite adept at projecting her consciousness and performing the
microcosmic meditation within others as a method of healing.
    This is a form of transferring of consciousness.  We can learn to
sense the vitality in our own chakras and body.  When
consciousness is transferred outside our body, we can also sense
another's body energy in a way similar to sensing our own.  There is
also the possibility, as in this case, of uniting two individuals' life
force so there is a psychic union.
      With this combined energy of myself and another, I notice my
third eye is opened.  I feel I have entered a mandala which aligns the
energies of nature and divinity into one harmony.  The energy
within myself has become universal.  I feel free to move into
anything within nature or into any spiritual being and be completely
at ease as I do so.  In other words, this degree of intimacy with a
partner amplifies psychic perception and spiritual mobility in
addition to being an expression of personal love.
   The woman's awareness is also increased due to combining the
strength of two individuals.  But the feminine response is intensely
sensual.  The elements in the astral body are intensified.  The senses
are intoxicated with the feelings of love.  The nerves are like streams
of bliss overflowing their banks.  Passion becomes a sacred dance. 
    These two points of view are not separate.  The sensuality and
bliss of the woman embraces and supports the vision of the man.  It
enables him to feel release and to be at peace. It offers him a home
and a time and place of  renewal.  And, for the woman, the man
illuminates the depths of herself and of nature at the same time. 
The presence of his life force and spirit within her is like a sun
burning bright.  Its power brings order and completion to the
seasons of life.
    Our awareness, in part, is derived from our body and our
activities. In using our senses we observe and focus our attention. 
Awareness also follows the movement of energy.  When you
circulate energy with a partner, you become the circle of energy and
the awareness of both partners flow together.
    As with Tagora's sigil, the pathworking brings me to an intimacy
and oneness so real I feel we have never been apart.  There is a
naturalness to this joining.  Breathing the air and gazing into each
other's eyes is like sipping a wine refined from the ecstasies of love.  
   In real life experience, I have met women who are able to perceive
and work with this kind of energy circulation.  For this kind of
intimacy, each partner must possess a spiritual will, a natural
affection,  and a genuine enjoyment of being transparent with
another.  And, as with high magick, there must be the ability to
identify with akasha so fear dissolves. 

Akashic Plane:  On the akashic plane, Tagora embodies a
concentration which penetrates into the mysteries of the nervous
system and the kundalini energy hidden at the base of the spine.  If
you concentrate your mind slightly above the perineum or at the
bottom of the spine, you may be able to detect a massive power.
    As you continue meditating, this primal "serpent" power begins to
uncoil and ascend through the spine.  Kundalini Yoga in India has
its own variety of methods for awakening this power and leading it
to up the spine to the top of the head where it joins with the crown
chakra.  There are many stories about the dangers and rewards of
this kind of practice.   
     Tagora's awareness penetrates through every aspect of the
process regardless of whether you use the more physical methods of
the Orient or methods more contemplative and symbolic in nature. 
It is quite possible to activate any "petal" from any chakra without
having to practice yoga for years.  Energy accumulates in the body
where you concentrate.  The energy configurations in the subtle,
etheric body can become radiant with light just by meditating on
them.
    Tantra, in its many forms, is also a way of activating the chakras. 
In tantra, you join with your opposite or your object of worship. 
This can be done in a completely abstract manner employing images
of dieties and symbols of divine attributes and so forth.  It also can
be done by working with another person.  To some extent, lovers
activate each other's chakras through their love.
   Some of President Clinton's friends agreed that he was someone
who could become a politician.  He already had that within him. 
But president of the United States?  Never.  He is much too friendly
and easy going.  However, when he married Hillary,  the presidency
became an option.  Her inner power influenced him.  Kundalini,
considered a feminine energy, has the strength of steel and its will
sees everything.  
    Tagora comprehends all aspects of masculine and feminine
attraction and the ways such attraction leads to higher states of
consciousness.  In Kundalini Yoga, each chakra has its own set of
dieties in which a god and goddess embrace.  Masculine and
feminine interactions, whether cosmic, divine, or psychological, 
give birth to all the energies of life.  Any relationship of affection
triggers various energies in the chakras depending on the nature of
the original attraction.  
     Working with Tagora enhances and balances the natural
attraction between two individuals.  He fills in for what is missing in
a relationship.  Tagora likes to teach individuals how to master states
of awareness which embody the opposites of masculine and
feminine.
    A woman I met studied Zen for many years.  She used to go to
her master when she was having trouble with her husband.  The
master would say things like, "If there is no self, then there is no
problem.  Let's just sit."   In Zen, they develop an awareness so
empty and clear, nothing can control or disturb your mind. 
   But if you went to a master of Kundalini Yoga who knew about
relationships in the Western world, she might say, "Oh, you are
upset with your husband because he is demanding and thinks you
owe him what he wants.  Deep down, you want him to preserve and
protect life more like Vishnu, the god who rules in the second
chakra. You want him to be more oriented toward family life. 
Therefore, meditate on Vishnu's consort, Rakini Shakti.  Embody
her passionate warmth that is vitalizing and inspiring.  Your husband
will respond feeling your energy flowing through him and so
become the counterpart you crave."  
   The Swami is not telling the woman to manipulate her husband by
psychic means.  She is saying there is a natural polarity and
continuous exchange of energy between men and women.  If you
are not getting what you want from a relationship, become both
more powerful and more generous so that your two personalities are
enriched and fulfilled.  
    Do not fight over scare resources of emotional support.  Love
with more potency.   In a similar way, meditating with Tagora on
the akashic plane is a means for circulating in yourself all the
energies of polar attraction and also applying them in your
relationships.

Mental Plane:  On the mental plane, Tagora is a master of
happiness, sensuality, and gratification.  He comprehends all the
nerves, occult anatomy, and psychic energies which relate to desire
and satisfaction.  Tagora could easily write a book about pleasures
known and unknown which are a part of human experience. 
Pleasure, in this case, is soothing to the senses and brings harmony
to the soul.  As you know, Scorpios have a deep knowledge about
such things.  
     This is also the highly trained mind of a yogi who can activate
any energy within his body through concentration.  For example, by
focusing on the third chakra, Tagora shows you how to be as
forceful and commanding as any general.  The heart chakra contains
an aura as inspiring and radiant as any saint.  The second chakra
creates an atmosphere intoxicated with bliss.  In the first chakra, you
could easily see the Himalyan Mountains as the outer manifestation
of the solidity and endurance you feel inside yourself.  
     In the throat chakra, you feel action and transcendence are
combined into one.  In the third eye,  you see through space and
time.  And in the crown chakra the "higher" and "lower" energies in
the body--Shiva and Shakti--combine.  You feel one with the
universe.  The joining is so complete (I notice in this moment) it
takes an effort of will to come back to everyday consciousness. 
Many yogis who taste this experience are content to live the rest of
their lives as ascetics and hermits.  In summary,  meditating with
Tagora on the mental plane teaches us how to activate the psychic
capacities latent within our nervous system.
     Let's explore one of the chakras a little further.  As I enter
Tagora's mind and concentrate on my first chakra (slightly above the
perineum or at the base of my spine),  I immediately feel energy
building up in my legs. The soles of my feet are tingling--I feel a
faint throbbing in the ground vibrating through my body as if
something immense is beginning to stir and shake the earth.  I have
the sensation of gravity increasing around my body as if I am
blasting off in the space shuttle.  There is a paralyzing weight and
heaviness.  I feel I am encased within a huge boulder or at the center
of a mountain.  My body has been as dense as metal.  
    In this place, there is a feminine presence.  It is ancient and
primordial, a desire older than the DNA molecule.  If matter and the
elements of the periodic table could form one craving and one ideal,
if they could have one wish, it would be this--to join with the
highest spirit there is. This primordial hunger within nature (and
within our bodies) will never be satisfied with anything less.  Matter
seeks union with spirit.  Every sensation, mode of perception, vital
essence, and feeling experienced by the human race records the
movements of this journey. 
   This drive to be alive and to experience all that is in life is more
powerful than sex, sensuality, or pleasure and pain.  The first chakra
empowers all the other chakras.  It is the motive force inspiring all
transformations.  Like the force of gravity that binds stars into the
shape of galaxies, this primal power displays constellations of desires
and ideals which captivate our attention and command us to explore.
To join with this force is to see through every desire and call it forth
or dissolve it at will.  It is to honor all of life's experiences and yet
to
seek to embody those ideals which make us more than what we are.  
    Every marriage falls into this space at some point for a few days
or sometimes for years.  Then it is not a matter of  desire and
satisfaction, of sacrifice, suffering, or giving.  It is not about getting
what you want or making someone else happy.  It is about accepting
what is and understanding that all of life is sacred--that what you
experience contains the seeds of your transformation.  With the
universality of the four fundamental forces of nature or of nuclear
fusion, the first chakra burns with this fire and conviction--every
desire shall be fulfilled.  Our bodies are patiently waiting for and
supporting our efforts to accomplish this. 
      
Astral Plane: On the astral plane, Tagora's aura makes the inner
emotional life of individuals completely transparent to your sight. 
He removes barriers so you feel completely open and a part of
another person. The intimacy established is profound because the
deepest desires and energies of the body flow through it and sustain
it.  This is that sense of the sushumna or psychic channel running
through the center of your body being completely joined to another
person's.  Every aspect of your psyche, known and unknown, is in a
mode of sharing. 
    On the astral plane is the experience of being saturated with
feeling.  However, the psychic centers in the body are highly
protected.  It is dangerous to activate them since this may expose
individuals to psychic hazards from which they can not escape or
illnesses they are unable to heal.  For these reasons, there are natural
barriers in place which keep these chakras from being prematurely
opened.
    Love is no less protective and preserving.  But it also finds ways
to share and circulate soul life and feeling directly between the astral
bodies of two individuals. Love creates a space where barriers
dissolve.  
    When such love touches you, when enter love's zone of wonder. 
You feel completely new and revived--beauty seizes you and turns
your life into a dream.  The ecstasies of the four elements on the
astral plane animate you with feelings you never knew existed.  The
harmony within nature, between intimate partners, and among
spiritual beings--these all intermingle and flow as one on the astral
plane.  For partners, this is also the feeling that another's love and
astral body are within your own body as if the other has slipped
inside you to inspire and to make the oneness complete.
   The song writer says, "Tell me how can we live so many sad and
lonely years?"  And then to discover suddenly that your soul and all
that you feel flows as one breath and one love with another person--
it is like shifting from grey to color or going from blurred vision to
crystal clear.

Physical Plane:  You feel all the chakras of your body are open and
joined with another person.  This oneness, again, is so deep you feel
you have never been separate.  In part, this is because you
understand and seem to share all your memories and experiences as
if you have both lived through them.  And also the relationship
increases your energies--love has become both heart and lungs
oxygenating and circulating blood through both your bodies.  You
are vitalized and uplifted. 
    Rapport such as this shatters the reality of the world and gives life
a new meaning.  If another can understand and be a part of
everything within you, then it is natural to want to bring this flame
of passion and love to all that you do.  This is not just a private love
affair.  It enables you to sense the inner life in everyone and to how
to make others' lives richer and more whole as well.  Your affection
naturally overflows to others.
    There is, of course, a very dangerous and dark side to loving with
this Scorpio intensity and penetrating intimacy.  If you are touched
by love in this way, it is next to impossible to imagine living life
without it.  Even when the experience is dimly reflected and the
result of wish, illusion, imagination, or blind craving, the feeling of
being connected to another is total.  It is easy to go temporarily
insane when the spell is broken.  To live without this love is to walk
naked through a thunderstorm of pain.
   Still, love is a way of being.  When it flows from your heart, it is
not dependent on other's actions.  It is not contingent, something to
be modified or put away after it has been betrayed or a relationship
can not sustain its presence. 
   If I might speak here on behalf of Tagora, he would say with a
base voice that can fill an entire valley with resonance, "Love is
never lost.  Its beauty and power retain their full force. If you make
room for love in your heart, you will fill the world with its
radiance."  Love such as this is a constant celebration of the union
of masculine and feminine.  Nature as well as spirit wait for us to
offer each other such gifts.
   The sign of Scorpio has within it an understanding of ideals and
how they awaken and transform our desires.  For this reason, it
might be tempting to subsume the love Tagora teaches under a topic
such as the love between a human being and his or her god/goddess. 
It would be safer to confine it to a ritual space--a Eucharist, a tantric
puga, or a Wiccan evocation of the goddess.   
   But making an ideal part of our experience is a matter of will,
strength, and endurance.  If you hold an ideal in your heart and live
it with conviction so it becomes a part of your astral body, then it is
inevitable it will also become part of your life experience.
      11/10/97: Monday. Tagora says to me during a brief evocation: 
"You were not touched with love and affection enough as a child. 
You seek in a creative way to attain a oneness with nature to
compensate but this will not do it.  
    "You need to be suspended in comforting sensations and to feel
relief from pain and distress so you let go, relax, and find pleasure in
another's presence.  Normally, this is second chakra affection and
sensuality.  But since your problem originates in infancy,  it requires
the infant's absorption in another's will so that you again experience
total dependence, vulnerability, and helplessness.  You need to be in
a space where you are free to respond without having to think or
worry about anything.  And this is something you can not imagine
doing.
   "Of course, sex can capture some of this if the woman is yielding,
responds sensually, and freely shares with you her feelings.  If she
gives all of herself to you, then you will feel your deepest needs are
being met."
     What Tagora mentions reminds me of an undine named Osipeh
who automatically offers comfort and a sense of letting go,
experiencing sensual bliss,  and being immersed in affection without
needing to think or act.  This kind of interaction occurs naturally as
an undine's aura animates your body and feelings.  In tantric
relationships, this is also where your partner is 100% there for you
in body and soul.  The connection is deep, powerful, and mesmeric
so you can put your whole will and concentration into the
sensations. 
     
Common Difficulties/Imbalances:  In part, Tagora represents
Scorpio.  This sign is a little difficult to explain to those who do not
have its influence in their natal chart.  On a spiritual level, it is
being
able to confront your deepest desires and also to possess the will
that transforms them.  The darkest instincts within the unconscious
and the brightest light within the akasha are joined with ease in
Scorpio's concentration. 
     The problem, then, is feeling comfortable with this penetrating
insight into the etheric/physical nervous system and the secret
desires of the astral body.  The thing is Tagora does not think in
terms of desire and craving.  He perceives directly the charge and
qualities of energy in each person.  At the same time, he sees these
same energies in their purest form after they have been refined and
transformed.  He sees the light hidden within desire and shows you
how to draw it forth.  
    You may come to Tagora wanting to know how to be more
satisfied and fulfilled.  Tagora can help you with this.  He can
unfold options relating to how to work within yourself and when
and how to fulfill your needs through expressing love with others. 
    But Tagora's job is to teach how to master every nuance and
aspect of the nervous system and the astral body.  Again, desire is
energy, charge, intensity, movement, change, and transformation. 
Tagora oversees the entire process from beginning to end.  Every
aspect of desire is subject to the will of spirit.  Finding this kind of
perception and command grants you tremendous freedom and the
ability to transform others.  It gets you out of your ruts and enables
you to move on to your next phase of your evolution.

Negative Spirits or the Dark Side of the Force

Let us take a look at the negative spirit who is Tagora's counterpart
in the earthzone.  Remember that in the Bardon cosmology, for
each positive spirit in the earthzone, there is also a negative
counterpart.  Like Bardon, I would suggest at the outset that you do
not evoke negative spirits.  Bardon says a magician should only
contact those spirits which are compatible with his high ideals. 
Since I actively work with the Judges of Saturn who preside over
both positive and negative spirits,  a study of negativity is not outside
the range of my work and responsibility.  And, as a matter of
experience, I have met individuals whose negativity could qualify
them to be incarnations of negative beings. 
     One difference between negative and positive spirits is that the
negative are closer to the physical world and have darker colors in
their auras.  For these reasons, they are easier to contact.  You do
not have to be as pure nor do you need some noble purpose to catch
their attention.  You neither have to elevate your consciousness into
a profound trance nor journey far on the inner planes in order to
encounter them.  Their activities are more familiar--their actions are
sensational and full of scandal.  Instead of uplifting and
transforming, they supervise obsession, degradation, and
destruction.
   This is not to say that they serve no purpose.  They too grant an
opportunity to learn through experience.  They give you a taste of
life and a chance to find out who you are and what you are made
of.  
     In fact, they like to challenge and test you.  If you do not have an
absolute commitment to the divine,  if your will is in any way weak
or undefined, they will visit you on occasion or send an emissary
deputizing for them--someone you work with or meet in school or
in your social life.  These spirits are happy to offer their services as
your tour guide, your confidant, counselor, and the author of your
life script if you need one. 
    If you lack meaning and purpose, they are happy to fill in all the
blanks in your application for incarnation.  If you do not know what
you are after in life,  you can be sure they will find something for
you to do.  Is life drab and boring?  They will find you a task
completely captivating and demanding.  After all, this is their job--to
get you completely involved with life if you do not want to play a
part or else deny you the basics so you come to realize how precious
the life is that you gave up.
   And if you despair for any reason?  Oh, wow, look out.  That is
like shouting or sending  an SOS sent on their private wavelength
saying, "I am here.  Come rescue me for I am lost."   You see,
akasha is so sensitive to will and imagination that your choices in life
automatically activate its resources either for creation or destruction. 
Human choice and will are that dynamic and powerful.
     Negative spirits may appear to be exotic and otherworldly, but
they merely reflect things with which we are already familiar.  I have
a friend whose uncle is in the mafia.  Occasionally, he runs into mob
figures.  They always offer him "free" gifts out of respect for his
uncle.  But he knows that if he ever accepts a gift he will be bound
to the mob forever.  Once you take a free handout, they will call on
you for special favors.
   I have another friend whose grandfather was a kahuna, a
Hawaiian priest.  Whenever he meets kahunas, they tell him about
the various Hawaiian spirits with whom he has a special connection. 
But he wants no part of this.  He has never accepted the psychic
warfare his grandfather, as a kahuna, participated in.  He has
switched religions thinking that in this way he will escape from that
kind of negative spiritual action.  Each religion actually has its own
way of dealing with negative spirits, performing exorcisms, and so
forth.  
    The topic of negative entities covers a vast area of study.  Some
conceive of negative beings, devils, demons, and such as being
insidious, hideous, and violently destructive.  This seems to be the
case but you have to distinguish between lower astral plane entities
and highly developed negative beings.  
   As with the mob, you go to a loan shark and default on your loan,
and the loan shark will come round and cause you physical injury. 
If you run, he will hunt you down. The situation is like survival in a
jungle.  If you suddenly encounter a wounded animal, an animal
whose territory is invaded or an animal with a raging appetite, you
may find yourself attacked with an amazing ferocity.  Behind the
teeth, the jaws, the claws, and the venom is a pain, a rage, or the
blind desire to survive.  Entities on the lower astral plane can turn on
you with a pure, devouring hatred. 
    But in the case of the loan shark, there is something more subtle. 
The negativity takes the form of entrapment. Nothing is a matter
with what is given--with the money itself.  It is the terms attached to
the loan which makes the transaction dark.  Often negative spirits
will sense the power within you.  They see that you have a destiny, a
mission, or something wonderful you are meant to accomplish. 
What they do is tempt you with a shortcut.  
   You may have something you really want to do with your life. 
But you do not have the money, the experience, the connections,
the friends, the influence, the knowledge, or the magick.  It seems
what is meant to be will never happen.  Your conviction is
inadequate.     
    In steps a negative being. It says, "I will give you power,
connections, and all the knowledge you will ever need."  Because
you lack experience,  the offer appears friendly and generous.  But
you have to be sensitive to what is missing.  Negative spirits often
will grant very positive things or gifts on two but not all three of the
physical, astral, and mental planes.  
    For example, they may dramatically increase you powers of
concentration on the mental plane.  And they will give ideal physical
circumstances where you can work toward you dreams.  But the
astral life they provide is contaminated.  Even as your opportunities
in life increase, your emotional life becomes a toxic wasteland
devoid of love and affection.  They humiliate you and cause
degradation to fill your astral body so you lose the self-esteem you
need to make independent choices.
     Consider another example.  As in some groups, there is a
physical community where you belong.  And there is love and
support nurturing you and drawing you into a life of sharing and
caring.  But what is at stake in this case is your mind.  You have to
think in a certain way.  Any deviation from acceptable doctrines,
beliefs, or interpretations is intolerable. You are not permitted to
think your own thoughts.  
     If you have complete control of individuals' bodies or their
emotions or their minds--just one of these three--you can pretty
much put an end to spiritual growth.  If you can block a peoples'
contact with the spiritual, then you can destroy the world or cause
untold suffering.  
       The higher negative beings of the earthzone are intelligent and
conniving.  We can see the equivalent in human life.  The Drug
Enforcement Agency sent an undercover female agent to infiltrate
the drug cartels.  She was set up in a business which launders
money.  She succeeded marvelously with the Columbians and so
forth.  But when she went to meet the Italian mob, she ran into
something else.  
    The Italian mob did not know her.  When she got off the plane in
Rome, the mob photographed every single person arriving at the
airport that day.  They wanted to see if there were any other known
agents who came in as her backup.  The Italian mob operates its
own intelligence service similar to the FBI and the CIA. 
   This agent succeeded in a securing a large number of arrests and
also the confiscation of $50 million of mob money.  But the mob
also put out a four million dollar contract on her life.  Running into
higher negative spirits is somewhat similar.  You are up against
professionals.  They have a lot of resources to draw upon to
manipulate and to harm you.  
   The mob may live down the street.  You may go to school with
their children.  You may have business associates or friends who are
under their influence.  In some countries like Japan, there is an
unwritten agreement between the government and the yakuza.  The
Japanese yakuza keep juvenile delinquents off the streets.  They
have their own system of internal discipline.  Like the IRA in Belfast
or the mob in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, thieves are not permitted to
operate in their neighborhood.  The mob controls evil like a
monopoly.  
    Hitler, during the Third Reich, gave occultists a choice.  Either
join the Nazi party or be sent to a concentration camp.  He wanted a
monopoly on magical power.  Even in the United states, since the
1970's, the CIA has run its own research and operations involving
remote viewing.  This is so effective as an intelligence tool that the
U.S. government wants a monopoly on its use.  They actively
interfere with individuals and private organizations researching this
skill.
     You can read on the internet and in books a great deal about
this.  According to some reports, segments of the U.S. government
use disinformation, character assassination, and ever physical
assassination to control the spread of information.  Negative beings
are like that.  If you are developing power, they want you to work
for them or else they attempt to do you in. 
    The way to escape evil is to say, "I am committed to a higher
purpose.  I identify with it with my whole being.  If you proceed
against me, you proceed against the powers behind me."   In other
words, once you encounter evil--a highly potent negativity--it is no
longer life as usual.  You have to make an enormous commitment if
you want to regain balance and harmony.
   Elemental beings can not approach an individual whose mind is
centered within akasha.  In a similar manner, negative beings can
not approach an individual who, in his faith and at his core,
identifies with Divine Providence.  The thing is you never want to
underestimate the influence of power either in a positive or negative
form.  You never want to make the mistake of assuming that evil
will go away, that once it has contacted you you can ignore its touch
and go back to the life you had before.  You can count on negative
spirits to wait life times for you to make another mistake and  then
they will offer you an invitation similar to one you accepted before.  
    On the other hand, it is interesting how much power Christians
ascribe to the devil. Jews will tell you that the devil is a minor
annoyance.  It is God you have to look out for--fear Him and
nothing else.  It is only with God's permission that evil enters the
world.  All power is under God's supervision.  If you read the
psalms of David, it is clear that David never forgets for an instant
that God is in charge and not the enemy or negative spirits. 
    In our solar system, according to Bardon,  the spirits of the
sphere of Saturn are the Judges who govern both positive and
negative spirits when it comes to karma and cosmic law.  On a
planetary level and in the cases of black magicians, it is the Judges
of Saturn who determine for how long negative spirits may be
unleashed to cause destructive effects.  
   It is the task of Saturn to insure that the paths of spirit remain
open and uncontaminated.  They see the physical world and time as
helping us to discover the divinity within us.  Both negative and
positive spirits serve this same end.  The negative spirits bind,
confine, and destroy.  Again, it requires immense will to be free of
their influence.  
    The positive spirits teach how to take into your hands the powers
of creation.  It requires immense will to work with them.  The eyes
of a magician can see and understand the work and appointed
purpose of both kinds of spirits.  Consequently, a magician does not
fear for his purity or close himself off from the world to protect his
devotion.  Ideally, he is able to offer assistance and insight to
whoever comes to him regardless of their situation.
   What black magicians have in common is not their malice,
domination, or evil works.  If you search their hearts, you will find
they have lost a sense of the wonder and beauty of the universe.  In
other words, their hearts are closed.  They no longer seek or desire
to see how akasha is active in guiding and inspiring all things
through the power of love.

The Negative Counterpart  of Tagora

The Dark Side of Scorpio:  The dark side of Scorpio is like the
Goddess Kundalini in her negative aspect. Swami Muktananda tells
the story of how he encountered in a vision a beautiful and regal
woman.  She was irresistible. But whenever he embraced her, she
turned into a horrible and hideous serpent who poisoned him.  This
experience repeated itself till he thought his condition was beyond
repair.  But then he discovered the serpent was the goddess
Kundalini. At that point, the goddess revealed her true nature to him
and blessed him.
    Scorpio in its negative energy amplifies your fears and repressed
desires till they take control of you.  Like the serpent power in
kundalini, its force and will can be so strong that it usurps and
temporarily takes over the intelligence and mind of an individual. 
The awakened kundalini is sometimes described as having the
demeanor of a snake being beaten with a stick--its hiss is full of
venom and pure hatred.  But snakes are not completely hostile.  For
example, they like Hopi Indian priests who stroke their bellys with a
feather amid mesmeric chanting until they fall asleep.
     But when someone is possessed by negative energy,  it is not the
personality which is in control.  It is an aspect of the unconscious.  It
is detached and cold as a serpent. As an autonomous complex in the
unconscious, it awakens and uncoils itself when it senses something
it wishes to devour.  Its stealth can be greater and its will more
implacable than anything  modern psychology understands.  
    Astrologers like to say that Scorpios are either down in a pit, as
cold as a reptile, or else soaring on wings of vision.  In the later
case, they are healers and highly skilled in lending assistance to
others.  In all cases, they work with the themes of death and
transformation.  But before passions can be transformed, they must
undergo a profound change.  It is will that carries you there.  The
black despair and the hostility in negative Scorpio are the will of an
immature infant in its rage. 
 
The 18th Degree of Scorpio:  In the negative version,  this degree of
Scorpio makes you aware of the emptiness inside yourself and that
you are going to have to do something about it.   It reminds you you
are in an intolerable condition.  It gives you permission to do
whatever you need to do to get out of your situation.  
   The positive naturally increases your power.  The negative also
increases your power but, as with the scorpion, by poisoning others. 
Do you wish to be transformed so you can be of assistance to others
or do you desire to transmit pain and suffering to impress others
with your strength?  It is your intent which determines whether you
draw upon the positive or negative, whether it is light or darkness
which you embrace.

The Negative Spirit's Domain: The negative counterpart of Tagora
has the attitude of a parasite.  It is like a bloodsucker.  It attaches
itself to its victim and draws the other's life into itself.  But in this
case it likes to sustain the life of its victim so the process can go on. 
If it has complete control, it will keep the other alive and even well.  
    In human terms, one person fills another's emptiness.  That is not
so unusual. But in this case, there must be no attempt at escape--no
suggestion, no hint, not even a wistful glance.  Submission is
expected to be done with conviction to avoid an outpouring of
wrath.
     It is true that there are men or women who use advanced power
and control tactics to dominate their partners. They control the
other's friends, finances, activities, education, clothes, children and
every choice. This builds up the perpetrator's sense of self-esteem
and power.  
    But from the point of view of this domain, these individuals have
weak egos and are insecure and vulnerable.  They only imitate the
dark arts.  From a negative spirit's perspective, hey are not worth
contacting or influencing.  
    Hardened perpetrators of domestic violence are after domination. 
But their manipulation is only external even when their words and
body language are sophisticated and powerful.  By contrast, the
negative spirits are after absolute control of the other's spirit at the
core of the other's being and they know how to get it.  They do not
need to use external manipulation and this is not a personal thing. 
You could say they are more intuitive and diabolical in their means.  

Negative version

Outer Aura:  The thing you notice immediately about this spirit is
his capacity to sense the deepest pleasures in your nervous system
and the hungers within your body and brain.  This spirit offers an
entire carnival of side shows and exciting activities when it comes to
gratification of primal needs.  
     Never seen it?  Never dreamed of it? He will take you beyond
the boundaries of your imagination.  You can not believe what this
spirit has up his sleeve.  He is an Anne Rice when it comes to
sensuality, a Sappho when it comes to desire, and a Marquis de
Sade when it comes to pain and pleasure--all of these rolled into
one. 
     I do not want to explore this in detail but let us just say his
images are most graphic when it comes to portraying involuntary
body responses to intense stimulation.   The deepest emotions are
on display.  For those who lack personal contact with others and
who are unfamiliar with genuine love, this spirit offers powerful
experiences of bonding with others to fill in when love is not
around. .

Inner Aura:  His inner purpose is to attain total control over another
so the other's spirit is absorbed into himself.  He is after oneness but
in a diabolical form.  Freedom is banished from this realm or, to put
it another way,  freedom of choice has no part to play.  Though
individual choice is very important in a modern society, this spirit is
no less effective in our times.  What he offers in place of the anxiety
of having choice is a deep sense of security and safety.  But these
gifts are the result of being held in an iron grip though they seem to
shield you from everything, again, as long as you do things his way. 
      Consequently, the security combined with the intensity of
pleasure strip an individual of his or her mind.  Like a mind altering
drug, your identity and personality are no longer relevant when
sensations and emotions are this strong.  
   The secret purpose found even within the negative?  Like a patient
with a heart attack or someone in despair, you hit them with a shot
of adrenaline to get them to come back.  Or when the pain is too
great or the loss too much to bear, you give them morphine.  Some
psychologists place their patients in touch with the craving and
desire that brought them into life.  You combine the bliss and
forgetfulness of the womb with the trauma of birth and the
astonishment of the first breath all in one experience.  That is what
this spirit commands--an element of fate lying in wait to take hold of
you when you lose your way.

Pathworking:  As I start the pathworking, I can see right away how I
have encountered a pure, implacable form of domination in my
early life.  Later on, when I sought to escape from this, I ran into an
equally powerful but a more hypnotic individual who was a spiritual
teacher.  
   What was I doing with such an individual?  Considering how
much magick has played a role in my life, it was natural for me at
that time to seek out someone who had a powerful integrated, and
complete system of magick  I could sense his wealth of knowledge
just standing in front of his door.  
    You just can not run away from your karma.  It is there in front
of you, behind you, and inside of you.  And this spiritual teacher? 
One day he made a simple mistake.  To demonstrate the degree of
his domination over his students, he said to me, "You have to do
what is in your heart."  He presumed that everyone believed he
knew more about the heart than anyone else.
     When he said that, I knew right away I was in the wrong place
and so I packed and left within the hour.  As for our negative entity
and this spiritual teacher?  When it comes to controlling others, the
two of them share a family resemblance.   
   There is a story in Buddhism about how in one of his former
incarnations Buddha was in a Hindu hell.  When he saw someone
suffering more than him he offered to help the other person.  But
hell has no place for compassion.  The future Buddha was instantly
thrown out of hell.  When you listen to your heart and conscience,
negative energy runs away from you.  It can not endure that
vibration.  
      At this point in the pathworking, I pause to look at both the
positive and negative spirits at once.  The question is, "Can the
primal passion, intoxicating eroticism, and raw power of the
negative be expressed in a positive way?  Or is the positive impotent
in lacking understanding and the capacity to transform the
instinctual desires and the forces within nature where the negative is
more active?    
   The negative spirit possesses a power which he offers as a gift. It
is something which modern society and all our educational
institutions seem to lack.  He opens a gate leading directly into
ancient and primal desires.  It is hypnotic and devastating if you are
unprepared for what you see.  The positive, on the other hand,
never departs from harmony.  Everything it does is full of love and
beauty.  
   As I study the two, I can see more differences.  The positive
always enhances and expands consciousness.  Feelings are refined
and become more intuitive.  The negative, by contrast, relies on a
narrowing of consciousness which is typical of hypnotic states. 
   The negative offers physical gratification, intense sensations,
enthrallment, and spellbinding emotional displays. The positive can
present the same intensity of sensation, gratification, and emotional
connection but it refines these into bliss and ecstasy.   The positive
offers in addition inner union, soul connection,  and the fulfillment
of higher spiritual purposes. 
     I can see at this point in the pathworking how the deepest
cravings and the most primal desires contain within themselves
divine powers.  Filling the world with beauty requires that we be
able to take the densest of physical things and the darkest of desires
and breathe spirit into it. This is the positive side. The negative can
not comprehend such acts of transcendence. 
  
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