Astral Temple/Inner Kingdom

[personalreality]

I have begun to undertake pathworking.  The technique is commonly thought to have originated in the Golden Dawn as phasing/astral projection voyages through the paths between sephiroth on the Kabbalah Tree of Life, which corresponded to the Tarot Trumps.

What they were doing was something called active imagination, which Jung used as a means to individuate one's consciousness (or heal psychologically).  The idea was to create a visualization or allow one to come to you in meditation.  You could start with a basic framework or you could just close your eyes and see what presented itself.  Either way, you let the "inner kingdom" build itself out of your unconscious/conscious mind and then interact with it to gain insight into yourself and then heal any damaged parts.

The method I'm using calls for the creation of a literal kingdom in which I am the ruler.  This kingdom is an astral representation of my inner kingdom.  The inhabitants of this kingdom represent different aspects of myself and my social relationships.  Beyond the kingdom are other kingdoms of other people that are psychically connected to me.  There is also a forest of adventure where I might encounter deeply hidden aspects of myself and my reality.

Common kingdoms are created in the image of the Arthurian Legend or Perhaps a great Chinese Palace, but you don't have to limit yourself in this way.  Many people create kingdoms reflecting what they envision Atlantis to have been like.  I am in the process of creating my kingdom, which I have been passively working on as an astral temple for some time.  My kingdom exists on another planet where an odd orbit keeps the planet gravitationally locked with it's star so that one side always faces the star.  Because of the outer planets' gravitational effect though, the dark side of the planet stays comfortably warm all the time and this is where my kingdom is.  There are two moons that orbit in such a way as to provide constant lunar light to the dark side, so that even in the dead of night you can see the landscape almost as well as in the daylight.  The constant lunar light also gives the landscape a silver-blue hue.  My central court, where I usually start a journey into my inner kingdom, is a floating "gazebo" type structure.  It floats in a lagoon that is surrounded on all sides but the entrance by high cliff walls that shimmer blue and silver.  In my court are pathways that lead to other floating rooms that correspond to things like my "magic room", "treasury", "armory", etc.  In the center of my court is a portal to astral realms, surrounded by a moat of fire that lights the interior of the structure. 

So far, this is most of what I have created.  There are a few more details that I'm omitting, but it gives you an idea.  So, if anyone else is interested in creating this kind of inner kingdom to do active imagination visualizations from or if you just have created a really cool astral temple or home base, share it.  Tell me what your "sacred place" in the astral looks like.  What did you create?

[Capt. Picard]

Interesting concept, I have recurring dream landscapes quite often so the possibility of this being effective is high in my opinion.

[CFTraveler]

I have always wanted to pathwork but never really understood how to do it, or how it's done.  So thanks for the description, and if you can elaborate a little more I'd appreciate it.
ps. I have built a scape that I find very 'enchanting', for lack of a better word, but I never knew I was pathworking.

[personalreality]

i will work on creating a better description if i have time today.

of course, i think this goes without saying (but i'm gonna say it anyway), a pathworking is a very subjective and personal experience.  I can give a basic rundown of a technique, but it is really something that becomes adapted to you and your mind.

[Stookie]

I have always wanted to pathwork but never really understood how to do it, or how it's done.  So thanks for the description, and if you can elaborate a little more I'd appreciate it.
ps. I have built a scape that I find very 'enchanting', for lack of a better word, but I never knew I was pathworking.

I've studied the tree of life and pathworking and this is very different from what I've come across. Not that this isn't legit pathworking, just much different from what I've learned, which is (very very basically) meditating on symbols, performing rituals, and vibrating names of the particular sphere on the tree in which you wish to work from. Each sepherah is represented by particular archetypes that govern aspects of personality.

From http://www.jwmt.org/v1n3/pathworking.html

The structure of the Path-working session will therefore follow the following lines:

    * The preparation of the physical temple, and the Path-worker(s), by a suitable opening;

    * The Composition of place. This will itself consist of

         1. The visualisation of the starting-point for the path-working;

         2. The invocation of the magical forces involved.

    * Projection into the visualised scene;

    * The main vision, which contrives to reveal to the worker the mysteries of the Path;

    * The arrival at the destination-point;

    * The closing.

I also read this regarding Jung:

It seems unlikely that what began as an obscure reference in a secret Magical order would have become a popular practice in the Western Mystery Tradition, had it not been assimilated into Analytical Psychology by C G Jung. Jung developed a technique called "Active Imagination", which is similar to Path-working in that it seems to be mightily similar to Clairvoyance:

    ...[Y]ou choose a dream, or some other fantasy-image, and concentrate on it by simply catching hold of it and looking at it. ... You then fix this image in the mind by concentrating your attention. Usually it will alter, as the mere fact of contemplating it animates it. The alterations must be carefully noted down all the time, for they reflect the psychic processes in the unconscious background, which appear in the form of images consisting of conscious memory material. In this way conscious and unconscious are united, just as a waterfall connects above and below.[11]

Jung goes on to say that instead of merely observing the sequence of events, the individual takes part in the scene, as if he is not the controller of the fantasy sequence, but a participator or character therein.

    Although, to a certain extent, he looks on from outside, impartially, he is also an acting and suffering figure in the drama of the psyche. This recognition is absolutely necessary and marks an important advance.[12]

The ultimate effect of this is, according to Jung, to assimilate lessons from the Unconscious into Consciousness - it thus plays a vital role in the process of "Individuation" - i.e. Jung's term for the process of psychic healing, and the integration of all parts of the psyche.

Active Imagination does not make use of the Tree of Life, nor does it make use of the Tarot Trumps. Yet I believe there is a still a subtle connection. Firstly, Path-working does indeed rely on the Path-worker to "choose a dream, or some other fantasy-image, and concentrate on it" - it so happens that the fantasy-image in question is arbitrarily determined by the symbolism of the Tree of Life in general, and perhaps the appropriate Tarot Trump in particular. Moreover, the process of Path-working requires the Path-worker to recognise, just as in Active Imagination, that he is a character participating in the vision he is experiencing, not merely an observer, and certainly not its detached creator.

Dion Fortune's "The Mystical Qabalah" is a great book on the subject too.

[personalreality]

Yea, like I was saying, pathworking was created in this sense by The Golden Dawn as literally working through the symbolism of the paths between sepiroth on the tree of life.  However, pathworking is essentially a form of phasing and has been done by shamans for thousands of years as 'shamanic journeying'.  One could even go so far as to call this astral projection in certain scenarios.  If you're being led by a pathwork leader (like a guided meditation) then it is more like phasing.  But if you were to memorize a pathworking and do it on your own, you could consider it phasing into an astral projection.

[CFTraveler]

Thanks for the information and for the references.  I've got some reading to do.

[personalreality]

This is a really good book on the subject of general magical pathworking that I'm reading and thoroughly enjoying CFT.

http://www.amazon.com/Magical-Pathworking-Techniques-Active-Imagination/dp/0738704075

and here is the author's website

http://www.nickfarrell.eu/nick-farrell-magical-pathworking.html

[personalreality]

CFT,

there are links here to Crowley's Thelema books.

http://www.sacred-texts.com/oto/index.htm

I know that might not be everyone's favorite author or subject, but there is a lot in the way of pathworking here if you know what to look for.