what is the benefit of western mystery ap techniques vs more modern techniques?

[Beero]

Hi
I just wondered if there are considered to be any benefits to 'western mystery tradition' astral projection techniques such as the 'body of light' compared to more modern methods such as phasing, hemi sync, robert bruce's methods, etc.
thanks from
007

[Blazewind]

Well my thinking on the matter is that any method would either work or not work for a person, depending on the person in question.  It shouldn't matter if you are working with an older or newer technique.  Obviously more have been established over the last several years, and I would have to assume that more will continue to be established.  It's not that the older ones were better or worse.  People seemed to just have some different ideas back then.  They knew less than they do now, and could only work with what they knew to be true.

[Colden]

If I had time to join one of the mystery schools I would. Although a lot of the western schools are geared to western life (hence the name) they still take up a lot of time and really work best for the eastern lifestyle. More modern self taught AP, spiritual advancement techniques will work well too.

[bondgirl3007]

007-

What is the body of light technique??? Please elaborate, thanks!!

-Lindsay

[Colden]

The body of light is not really a method like technique it is an end goal, what you are trying to achieve. It was developed by Aleister Crowley who practiced ritual magic. Basically the body of light is your astral body. Crowley believed that to develop the body of light you had to do these main things:

The fortification of the Body of Light by the constant use of rituals, by the assumption of god-forms, and by the right use of the Eucharist.
The purification and consecration and exaltation of that Body by the use of rituals of invocation.
The education of that Body by experience. It must learn to travel on every plane; to break down every obstacle which may confront it.

Your probably better off staying away from this. I would suggest BOTA, Golden Dawn or Society of Inner Light as they are actually a school of the mysteries and teach the initiates.

[Stookie]

Modern techniques tend to leave it to the individual to bring about experiences on their own, whereas occult societies have specific rituals steeped in worldwide historical religious & philosophical symbolism designed to bring a very particular experience.

I suppose it's the difference between an occult mystic and an arm-chair-do-it-yourself-at-home-AP'er. I've been arm-chair'in it for years.

[Psan]

I feel that developments in physical sciences have liberated the 'mystical' ones a lot. It has eliminated a lot of ignorance and unnecessary stuff from the mystical and helped it to become less mysterious.

Now we know what physical is, if not exactly, but we do know matter and this world a lot. We know that there is no heaven 'above', there is just endless void and millions of other worlds in physical. We know that there is no deity that we need to worship, who will zap us if he gets angry. We know that astral is not something magical 'out there', it is within us. We know that all humans have abilities, some less some more, and no one is special.

Scientific method has also cleaned up a lot of things and writers and experts write in a scientific manner about occult things, not in poems and cryptic language, which did more harm than benefit in the past. People do experimentation instead of religiously following whatever was 'told' by the 'gurus'.

Internet and other inventions have boosted the field like anything. Myself was introduced to this subject via net, and I'm grateful to science for this. I feel, we are slowly and surely coming out of the 'dark ages' of spiritual sciences and we will see the same development in this field just like physical sciences, very soon.

[Beero]

bondgirl lol bond here,
here is a link to an article on the body of light -http://www.hermetic.com/stavish/essays/bodylight.html

thanks for your responses

I'm about to begin anew with another effort to finally crack astral projection
I've had some experiences before but none which I've been really blown away by.
I had wondered if the western mystery techniques would induce a more intense experience or anything like that
one thing I would find pretty interesting is the idea of focusing on one seriphot (is that the correct term?) on the tree of life and experiencing that
is that something you could do with the more new-age methods?

[Colden]

If your focusing on the tree of life and the sephiroth (plural) or sephira (singular) then you should study the Qabalah. Again this has western and eastern paths. Typically the eastern path is spelled Kabbalah and wester Qabalah. A book called The Mystical Qabalah by Dion Fortune is a great place to start. I highly recommend.