Translators preface:
"T.N." stands for "Translator's Note", which is inscribed in the French edition's footnotes as "Ndt". The Translator thus referred to is that who translated the text into French, providing me with my original, French language material.In this document, the footnotes, translated into English from the actual of the French language edition, are preceded by the Word "Page" followed by the number of the page on which they do appear in the French language, that followed by words or phrases as relevant for clarity's sake, immediately preceding the call for a given footnote, thusly: the French word or phrase, then its English rendition, then the call for the footnote, all in Bold type but the body of the footnotes themselves; the latter are in Roman but for their call number, as in the French language edition. For example, in the French edition's main text on page 51, the word "Ame" is followed by a call for footnote I and further down page 51, there appears the phrase "matrice astrale", followed by the call for footnote 2; so, I write then "Page 51, "Ame", "Soul"'; "matrice astrale","astral matrix"2". Following such a statement comes, in a distinct paragraph and the order called, any footnote for that page.
Reminder: There are references to a specific other page of the book. That specific other page is stated as to the pagination of the French edition used. Please do effect the adequate transposition in the page numbers. Thus, in Note I of page 60, there is a reference to Note I of page 56, both those pages 60 and 56 being of the same French edition. Likewise, a footnote on page 393 refers to another on page 380.
There is another such reference on page 256 of the French edition I used, to a note allegedly on page 273 where there is actually no note: In fact, the note referred to on page 256 as being on page 273 appears on page 275. It is about Yidams, as is the page 256 note; I therefore wrote "page 275" instead of "273" in the page 256 note of my English footnote text.
On page 347, the footnote refers to pages 259 and 263 of an earlier French edition.
Page 31, "Éther", "Ether"1.1) TN.: Western hermetic texts, following the Greek texts, called for a long time "Ether" (Aither) what the Orient calls "Akasha". However, for more than a century by now, it has been the usage to attribute to the word "Akasha" the meaning of "Divine Primordial Substance", "Sole Spirit, Source of the whole Creation", while the word "Ether" currently designates subtle and invisible indeed but very dense a plane in comparison with the other, higher planes; what is involved is a plane of quasi-physical a nature, the closest plane to physical nature. The etheric plane is born, it is true, as all other planes, from the Akasha (Divine Source). Nevertheless, aiming at the practice and therefore the readers'real development, Franz Bardon did not linger making explicit all the subtle planes (with their respective hues, the sub-planes, etc) in order not to encase Hermetic Science into essentially intellectual an understanding. That is why he uses the word Akasha or Ether while giving it several meanings, according to the context: "Pre-material etheric plane" or "Entirety of all the subtle planes" or yet "Infinite Divine Source" (an Aspect that is, from the vibratory standpoint, infinitely, inconceivably higher than the quasi-physical etheric plane).
Page 35, "Aimant Quadripolaire", "Four-Pole Magnet"1.
1) TN.: The physical magnet which we know is a ferro-magnetic body having its own magnetic field, and 2 poles called conventionally "North" and "South" according to their orientation within the terrestrial magnetic field. It therefore does not correspond exactly to what F. Bardon calls a "four-pole magnet". However, all over this work, we shall stick to that phrase in order to remain faithful to the concept developed by the Author.
Page 38, "corps sain", "healthy body"1.
1) TN.: "Mens sana in corpore sano ", a maxim of Juvenal (Satires X, 356). The truly wise man, says the poet, ask from the Heaven but "the health of the mind with the health of the body".
Page 40, "par le sang et le sperme ainsi que par le corps éthérique, en raison de Vaction, dans cette substance, de chacune de ces deux matiéres", "by the blood and the sperm as well as by the etheric body, on account of the action, in this substance, of each of those two materials"1.
1) TN: Blood and sperm. That this assertion could have shocked and does shock some still, that is understandable. Nearly twenty centuries of history have confined the West in a mentality where the apprehension of the Universal Laws and of the realities which the latter entail is totally absent. That blood and sperm had been and be unfortunately still used to injurious ends (sorcery), that is the sad truth. It is fitting however to wonder "why" black wizards or magicians utilize those substances... Precisely because they contain, on the material plane, the refiexion of the Akasha, Divine Energy pre-eminently! It was therefore in order to feed their rites that they so avidly sought blood and sperm...
Page 41, "miracles", "miracles"1.
1) TN.: We took the liberty of putting the word miracle between quotation marks in order to abide by Franz Bardon's thought. Indeed, the latter specifies, all. along his teaching, in a very explicit fashion in "The Practice of Magical Evocation" in particular, that "miracles do not exist" and that all that is considered as such is but the result of the action of the Universal Laws. That is why, in this work, that word shall always be put between quotation marks.
Page 50, "l'Étther que nous connaissons déjà, "the Ether with which we are acquainted already"1.
1)TN: See previous note (Paragraph I - The Elements) on the term Akasha. What indeed is involved there is the ether or etheric plane, a quasi-material plane, very close to matter, and not the Infinite Spiritual Ocean, Source of all things.
Page 51, "L'Ame", "the Soul"1; "la matrice astrale", "the astral matrix"2.
1) TN.: By "soul" must be understood here the part of man bound to the emotional (astral or psychical) plane, and not that superior body of a Luminous nature, that the current vocabulary, more precise, calls "Causal Body", Egoic Body" , "Inner Master" or "Solar Angel" and to which the Christian religion refers under the phrase "Guardian Angel" and which is also called "Soul", in the veritable sense and with the latter's attributes: Protection, teaching, immortality, etc. The word "astral" was designating what we now call etheric and the psychical plane (immediately superior to the etheric, in the current sense) was the Plane of Desire, expressing itself in particular in the human being by the body of desire. The latter is now called "astral or psychical body". In consequence, must be understood here by astral body: Psychical body or body of desire, seat of the passions, of the emotions, etc... and therefore vibratorily superior to the etheric.
2) TN.: "Astral matrix" means "etheric body".
Page 54, "centres "Lotus"", ""Lotus" centres", 1.
1) TN.: or "Chakras".
Page 55, "le Centre suivant", "the next Centre"1; "le Centre le plus élevé et le plus Divin", "the highest and the most Divine Centre"2 "Susummnâ", "Susummna"3; "la Force du Serpent", "Serpent Power"4.
1) TN.: Upwards.
2) TN.: Located at the skull's apex.
3) TN.: The "Susummna" is generally talked of as being the channel, of etheric and astral matter itself; it is "located in the middle of the spinal chord.
4) TN.: Or "Kundalini".
Page 56, "LES PLANS ASTRAL ET ÉTHÉRIQUE", "THE ASTRAL AND ETHERIC PLANES,"1.
1) TN.: The word "astral" was appearing alone in the first translation. However, on account of the complexity of the subtle planes, it is fitting to be more precise, given the descriptions, themselves very precise, which the author makes for us of those planes. That is why the word "etheric" was added, for it is both those planes, astral and etheric, that are involved here. Therefore, over these pages, we took the liberty to put the exact term attributed to each of those planes today for a better understanding by the reader. Moreover, the phrase "Fourth Dimension" currently designates all the subtle planes (immaterial and invisible for the human being, Akasha included), that are also called in an imprecise manner, "Beyond". The prevailing hierarchy must therefore be restituted there as to the different planes from the densest to the highest: 0) The physical body (which is not a Principle!) 1) The etheric body 2) The astral or psychical body 3) The mental body (divided into lower or concrete mental and higher mental or Causal, Egoic body, Soul) 4) The Buddhic body 5) The Atmic body 6) The Monad 7) the Primary Divine Spark: Adi.
Page 58, "Les larves", "The larvae"1.
1) TN.: Stemming from the mental body, by a thought, as the author explains it later, the larvae take on, nevertheless, some astral or psychical, then etheric, substance, to the extent of becoming very dense, almost visible.
Page 60, "les enveloppes ou les vêtements du mental", "the mental envelopes or clothes"1.
1) TN.: See Note I on page 56 to distinguish the Spirit or Monad from the mental body well.
There, it is the qualities of the mental that are involved, reflecting those inherent to the Spirit. That is why, by simplification, the same term, "mental", has been and is employed throughout this work. Of all the bodies constituting the human being, the sole "Adi" Spark is immortal and imperishable, but man has no awareness of it during long millennia. The average man has awareness, after un certain cycle of evolution, of his mental to which he assimilates his Essence, his Consciousness.
Page 63, I'Od astral", "the astral Od"1.
1) TN.: Or Etheric body.
Page 85, "nous entendons notre corps physique et notre corps psychique", "we mean our physical body and our psychical body"1.
1) TN.:-Psychical body or astral body, that which is made of astral material and channels therefore that plane's forces. The general term of "soul" may be employed but for a better understanding of the human being's structure, one will use the word "soul" only to designate the durable and luminous (therefore faultless) aspect of the being, called also "egoic body" or "causal body".
Page 87, "en trois groupes", "into three groups"1.
1) TN.: There are thereforefive columns (4 elements + I "indifferent) and fifteen groups (3 in each of the 5 columns).
Page 95, "comme un axiorne", "as an axiom"1.
1) TN.: An Element's fondamental nature is expressed by a double polarity, positive and negative. Thus, Water, of a magnetic nature, can have constructive, attractive an action or, on the contrary, negative and repulsive. Beyond a certain temperature threshold therefore, water sees a polarity of its nature swing into its opposite. That is why baths which are too hot, for instance, weaken vital magnetism while cool or cold baths recharge the latter.
Page 97, "une pinc6e de borax", "a pinch of borax"1.
1) TN.: Borate of soda. Boric water is used as an antiseptic.
Page 107, "La visualisation", "Visualization"1.
1) TX: Visualization is the mental's faculty of creating images, called therefore "mental",- they take shape on the forehead's inner screen or in front of one, eyes open or closed. That creation of images is equally called "imagination " in the actual meaning of the term but current usage attributed to that word another significance: unreality, dream, etc... That capacity to create images is one of the most determining factors of power in Magic.
Page 115, "pour toute formation en Magie, nous n'avons besoin que d'une seule position, le type importe peu; la plus simple est celle qui vient d'être indiquée", "for any training in Magic, we need but a single position, the type matters little; the simplest is that which was just indicated"1.
1) TN..- Consider the sitting position of the Egyptian mummies.
Page 129, "à des kilomètres", "kilometres away"1.
1) TN.: When they have such a mastery of Fire (Tummo), the Initiates receive the title of "Repa ". Milarepa, the Great XII-th Century Thibetan Boddhisatva, was actually called "Mila the Repa, he that mastered (among others!!!) Fire.
Page 168, "ses Tathâgatas", "his Tathagatas"1.
1) TN.: In Thibet, He who completed the Evolution into Consciousness (foreseen for the Earth's great cycle) is called "Tathagatas": All the "Buddhas" (including the Cakyamuni Buddha who lived in the VI-th century B.C.) who thus completed that cycle, bear that name. Sometimes the latter is given to the Lord Maitreya (Christ for the Westerners. Consequently, to protect himself during his rituals, the Lama places the different representations of the Buddha and of the Lord Maitreya.
Page 171, "un geste certain de puissance", "a sure gesture of power"1.
1) TN.: Recovery of the secular charge which the Roman armies had effected.
Page 195, 'd'en juger", "to judge thereon"1; in watching, in directing and in inspiring his protégé"2.
1) T.N.: The difference between the communication recommended by Hermeticism and the usual spiritualistic practice resides in the fact that in the course of the latter, the medium yields his etheric hand (indeed his whole bod ...) and in that case, it is the spirits living on that relatively dense although invisible plane that use that hand; the nature and the degree of evolution of those spirits, account taken of the plane to which they belong, therefore leave to be desired and contact is in general very harmful. The Magus or student in Magic yields his mental hand; that means that from that high plane, a spirit residing there will act or manifest himself "by tuning into" the etheric hand (which stayed in the physical hand) that then will cause the physical hand to move according to the instructions come from that high plane; in consequence, under that method, the spirit does not enter into the hand of the Magus. He guides it "by tuning" according to the Law of Analogy ruling all the planes. The mental plane being what is involved, those are beings living on that high sphere that the Magus contacts.
2) TN.: Franz Bardon has not been more explicit on those Protective Beings. It isfitting to know
that the Guardian Angel is generally the Soul, in the exact meaning of the term, that is to say an
individual's Solar Angel or Egoic or Causal body. It is a part of himself, but very high, it is the
"Inner Master" or "Deep Self". Besides, deceased relatives, whose evolution is certain, or other
persons to whom the Karma binds us and whom we do not remember, may protect us along an
indeterminate duration; in fact, until age seven, or fourteen or even twenty-one, indeed the whole
life.
Page 196, "peut être un décédé", "can be a decedent"1; a human being closed to the spiritual planes2.
1) TN.: But whose evolution is certain for residing on the mental plane.
2) TN.: Planes superior to the mental plane. When someone yearns to know those in consciousness, he then has "a spiritual life" even if his mental predominates for some more time.
Page 201, "dans lequel nous entrerons tous et séjournerons après notre décès", "in which we all shall enter and sojourn after our death"1.
1) TN.: Let us specify that that mode of communication, even if, a priori, it makes possible to contact living beings on the mental plane, does not avoid "static" by beings residing on the psychical or etheric plane. In fact, when a mental organ (here, the hand) leaves its astral and physical envelope, the void thus created is immediately compensated for by a vibratory extension of the concerned organ's psychical and etheric aura; in consequence, that extension necessarily attracts beings residing on those planes, inferior to the mentdl sphere, that shall attempt to manifest themselves too and may perturb the reception of the message receivedfrom the mental plane. Because the Magus is aware of that phenomenon, he does not let himself be drawn into that noxious current. He exercises his vigilance and does not have an attitude of total submission and credulity towards what he picks up. "at is therefore involved there is a simple exercise making it possible to experiment and to convince oneset(of the existence of beings on invisible planes. Other, surer means, linked to the development of the psychical and above all mental senses, enable the human being to contact the Higher Spheres.
Page 208, "la Magie veulent les mettre en oeuvre", "Magic want to bring them into play"1.
1) TN.: This remark excludes, of course, the Rituals practiced following an "Ankhour", Rituals transmitted by a secular or millennial Tradition, whose Symbols and Power Words were already charged since and during that long duration and whose operator benefits by authorization (method of the "Initiation" in the Traditional Orders, Eastern or Western, or by any other transmission). See on this the Magic of Ankhour at the end of this work.
Page 218, ""Lucis", par exemple" ""Lucis", for example"1.
1) TN.: "Lux" (in Latin) = the light, "lucis" (the genitive of lux) = of the light, which belongs to light, which is made of light.
Page 226, "Fantomes". "Ghosts"1.
1) TN.: Category: Indeed, here is described but one kind of Ghosts, that the form of which is the product of human imagination. It is fitting to specify that that same form, thus elaborated, can then be inhabited by a spirit residing on the etheric (therefore, relatively dense) plane, that is in no wise the decedent's and that makes a game of the medium and of the audience. Another category of Ghosts is that whose shape is the defunct's real etheric body which, on account o its density linked to the paucity of evolution of the person in question, desagregates itself very slowly while that person's Consciousness is elsewhere already (astral plane, more or less high). This etheric body offers therefore a residence allowing the manifestation of spirits, such as those who were just described, that also amuse themselves at the expense of a credulous audience.
Page 228, "Nécromancie", "Necromancy"1.
1) TN.: Necromancy: Etymologically, "divination with the help of the defuncts". What is involved is actually a very dangerous practice for he who is not a genuine Magus, that is to say an Initiate working for the Universal Good. This activity is indeed reserved to a few Adepts who "work" genuinely with the decedents to evolutive ends. Such was one of the works, very misunderstood, of Apollonius of Tyana.
Page 236, "offert par Dieu", "offered by God"1; "sans entraimement particulier", "without particular training"2.
1) TN..- Provisional gift which is to serve to bring to fruition a mission in the course of the incarnation. That gift becomes for good, and is therefore no longer a "gift", it it is the fruit of a work of psychical and spiritual development.
2) TN.: Without particular training effected in the life considered, but intense training nevertheless, effected in the course of multiple past lives. Indeed, nothing is given for good. All is acquired by effort but that attainment is then eternal even if it does not express itself at each incarnation.
Page 248, "s'agissant de I'Air, c'est le coeur; de I'Eau, c'est le ventre", "be Air involved, it is the heart; Water, it is the belly"1.
1) TN.: The first translation in French indicated the solar plexus as being ruled by Water. A transcription error was involved for that centre, as Franz Bardon indicates to us in the theoretical part, paragraph VII, "Manipura" is governed by Fire. What is indeed involved here is the belly, bound to Water, and more precisely the centre located between the navel and the pubis.
Page 249, "contenant le centre psychique lié à l'eau", "containing the psychical centre bound to Water"1.
1) TN.: What is involved is therefore the "Swadistana Chakra ", located a little above the pubis. It is ruled by Water.
Page 256, "les Élémentaires appelés Yidams" "the Elementals called Yidams"1.
1) TN.: The general meaning of the word "Yidam " is "Protecting Deity" whose image the disciple is given by the Master in order for the former, through visualizing it, to assimilate in himsetf that Godly representation's qualities. What is involved in reality is a secular creation effected by the Gurus in order to help the disciples (see note page 275).
Page 259, "avec l'Élément Terre, l'Élémentaire présente la couleur d'une motte de terre", "the Elemental presents the colour of a lump of earth"1.
1) TN.: Those colours are perceived obviously on the etheric plane although they could densify themselves to the point of being seen, as if by intermittence or by flickerings, by the physical eyes. It all hinges on the degree ofsensitivity of the observer's etheric sight.
Page 263, "des condensateurs fluidiques dans un autre chapitre", "of the power condensers in another chapter"1; "I'Alpha et l'Oméga de son être; il s'agit, en conséquence, de son sang et de sa semence", "his being's Alpha and Oméga; what is involved is, therefore, his blood and his semen"2.
1) TN.: Even though knowledge can be used to do good as well as evil, Franz Bardon does divulge but the power condensers, composed of plants the combination of which is essentially beneficial, and which therefore enables the constructive and vivifying aspect of the Elements to settle.
2) TN.: The Magus works on himself with his own organic substances, to help himself correct a defect for example, etc... No malefic character must therefore be attributed to these lines. See the previous note regarding blood and sperm.
Page 264, "Si le Mage est une femme, il est évident qu'une goutte de son propre sang rend alors le rnême service", "If the Magus is a woman, it is obvious that a drop of her own blood then renders the same service"1.
1) TN.: Not the blood of the menses!!!
Page 271, "symbolisant la nature de l'E1émentaire", "symbolizing the Elemental's nature"1.
1) TN.: For example, to represent a Fire Elemental, the corresponding alchemical symbol: an equilateral triangle pointing upwards.
Page 275, "Au Tibet, des Élémentaires, donc des Yidams, sont créés de cette manière, et les images représentant les démons et des dieux servent de modèle pour leur forme respective", "In Thibet, Elementals, therefore Yidams, are created in that manner, and the images representing the demons and gods are used as a model for their respective form"1.
1) TN.: That is indeed the primordial origin of Yidams. By their respective secular charge, the latter, as soon as they are called and visualized (name and image transmitted by Initiation) enable the meditant or disciple (Chela) to contact and to assimilate the divine qualities which the Guru--Magi of yore projected into that creation.
Page 280, "la Loi Universelle de toutes ses actions", "the Universal Law for all its actions"1.
1) TN.: In implementation of the Karmic Law, such Elementals are dissolved, even after a very long survival on the Earth, by their very creator, who in the course of one of his later incarnations meant to resume the Magic Way, destroys the Elemental or Elementals in question.
Bottom of page 297, and first three letters of page 298, with the footnone of the latter page, "Zanoni, le héros du roman de Bulwer-Lytton", "Zanoni, the hero of Bulwer-Lytton's novel"1.
1) TN.: Title of the work [in French]: "Zanoni, Maitre Rose+Croix", Editions [Publishers] Aryana. ["Zanoni: A Rosicrucian tale", by Baron Edward Bulwer Lytton. Preface by Paul M.Allen. [= not PA, operator of the FB Res] Steinerbooks, Baluwelt, N.Y. 10913 U.S.A., 197 1. Third printing, 198 1.]
Bottom of page 301 and beginning of page 302, with footnote on the latter, "dépend, sans aucun doute, du degré de développement de ce Mage et de la capacité qu'a acquise ce dernier de créer, avec force et volonté, la cause", "hinges, without any doubt, on the degree of development of that Magus and on the ability which the latter acquired to create, with strength and will, the cause"1.
1) TN.: Cause or "energetic knot" of a desire meant to be made concrete by its turning into a reality.
Page 316, "Nous ne voulons pas décrire ici ce type de Magie peu élevé", "Ve do not want to describe here that type of Magic of little height"1.
1) TN.: This type of Magic can be considered as of little height for, so far it was almost always the sorcerers or practitioners of black "magic" who used mummias. One is tempted to think that the latter are necessary but to those low practices. Actually, the mere name of the person to be helped suffices to the Magus but generally the magic act's beneficiaries feel reassured in giving a personal witness charged with their magnetism (most often hairs) for they believe that Magic will be inoperative without that.
Page 318, "Il existe deux sortes de condensateurs fluidiques, les condensateurs simples et universels tout à la fois", "There exist two kinds of power condensers, those condensers that are simple and universal at the same time"1; "La deuxième sorte offre des condensateurs fluidiques composés", "The second kind offers composite power condensers"2.
1) TN.: A power condenser that is ample and universal: simple because its development is based on one substance and universal because it makes it possible to channel the Four Elements at the same time.
2) TN.: Composite power condensers: Because their development is based on several substances. Within that category of condensers, distinguishing those that have a universal character (that channel the Four Elements) and those that are specialized (that channel but one Element) is warranted.
Bottom of page 339 and beginning of page 340, "A l'instant même vous serez en rapport avec elle", "at that very instant you shall be in touch with him"1.
1) TN.: Encounter of persons deceased but not yet re-reincarnated. If the latter had resumed a physical body (were therefore born on Earth anew) one would know it either instantaneously (by intuition) or through other inhabitants of the astral world, having approached the person sought.
Page 343, "chaque étudiant", "each student"1.
1) TN.: If the deceased person whom one wishes to contact had been deadfor a long time and then re-incarnated himself (indeed numerous times!) one shall perceive in the mirror the image he had in that life (the etheric substance keeping recorded, like a magnetic tape, its dominant component is the Water Element, all that exists; so is it consequently named equally "reflective ether").
Page 347, "Voici la pratique de la charge d'un lieu.", "Here is the practice of the charging of a place"'.
1) TN.: In the previous French edition, two paragraphs (page 259, then page 263), separated by another (regarding another function of the magic mirror), were treating of the charging of a place to the ends of recovery from illnesses. In order to make the presentation clearer, we took the liberty, with the publisher's concurrence, to gather them into a single one.
Page 351, "En Orient, beaucoup d'initiés se servent de ce procédé pour communiquer entre eux; cette faculté est appelée symboliquement "messages sur le vent"", "In the Orient, many initiates use that process to communicate among themselves; that faculty is called symbolically "messages on the wind""1.
1) TN.: The messages can be transmitted and perceived without there being necessarily the use of a magic mirror. It sujflces, injact, to act with enough force on the etheric substance.
Bottom -of page 355 and beginning of page 356, "et le Mage, comme nous l'avons déjà fait observer, a la possibilité de photographier l'image matérielle grâce à la présence de cet Élément", "and the Magus, as we pointed out already, has the possibility of photographing the material image thanks to that Element's presence"1.
1) TN.: This explains the photographs which Franz Bardon has been able to make of the face, reflected in a mirror thus defined, of Lao Tse and of Hermes Trismegistus. It is obvious that those beings have been reincarnated, and numerous times, since those lives; it is therefore the print which they left respectively as such on the reflective ether or etheric substance which has appeared in the mirror.
Page 358, "J) Le miroir magique: instrument d'exploration du passé, du présent et de Pavenir", "J: The magical mirror: instrument of exploration of the past, of the present and of the future"1.
1) TN.: Franz Bardon gives here the key of the contact with what is called "the Akashic Archives" although the success of that endeavour hinges on the degree of evolution of he who attempts the experience. The communication is open or closed, according to the opportunity of the moment and to the experimenter's intentions.
Page 359, "Toutes les pensées, les sensations, les sentiments et les actes physiques laissent dans la substance éthérique ou principe des causes", "All thoughts, sensations, feelings and physical acts leave in the etheric substance or principle of the causes"1.
1) TN.: The etheric substance is, let the reader be reminded, that subtle plane located just above the physical plane; on it the latter hinges besides, this is why it is the principle of the "causes ", that is to say, of all that is going to happen or materialize itsetf on the physical plane. There also exists another "World of the Causes", more primordial and infinitely higher vibratorily than the pre physical ether, it is the Divine Providence's very Bosom.
Page 360, "l'existence de cette personne en tant qu'Ame", "that person's existence as a Soul"1; "avant tout par la perte du goût de vivre", "above all by the loss of the zest for life"2.
1) TN.: "Soul" means here, not the psychical body but the Solar Angel or the "Egoic Body", an individual's durable Essence; it is the latter that uses the mental, psychical and physical bodies, constituting an (incarnated) individual at a given moment.
2) TN.: This, if one seeks, out of curiosity, to know his past and by means of "violent" techniques. However, if one evolves in consciousness, purifying onesef and tending continually towards the Divine Providence, the acquired purity provokes the awareness of certain past lives, linked directly to that which is now lived; in this case, the drawbacks which F. Bardon describes have no reason for occurring; on the contrary, that knowledge of the past "unties" the karmic knots for the new understanding which we have of the situations currently lived offers us the means to act in the way wished by the Law, to repair and to change a particular behaviour; thanks to that process, the burden or the diverse trials of existence are then lightened.
Page 362, "dont le résultat attendu est d'ordre physique", "of which the expected result is of a physical order"1; "appelée "matrice mentale", relie le corps astral au corps mental; I'autre relie le corps astral au corps physique", "called "mental matrix", links the astral body to the mental body; the other links the astral body to the physical body"2.
1) TN.: The etheric body must be included in that enumeration of the bodies. In fact, astral travel implies an almost total departure from the bodies: the mental body, the psychical body and a part of the etheric body leave the physical body. Because that latter body joins the travel, an action, initiated during that projection, can have material consequences.
2) TN.: What is called here "astral matrix" is, in fact, what, under another terminology, more usual currently, is named "etheric body".
Page 363, "au corps physique", "to the physical body"1; "dans cet état", "in that state"2.
1) TN: That string is equally called "silver cord".
2) TN.: The difference between astral travel and sleep resides in the seat of breathing: during sleep, it is done by the physical and etheric body while, during astral travel, it is polarized in the psychical or astral body.
Page 365, "De nombreuses pratiques orientales", "numerous Oriental practices"1; "(Européens, les Africains ou les Américains) car ceux-ci ne possèdent pas un corps physique adapté à ce type de climat", "(Europeans, the Africans or the Americans) for these do not have a physical body adapted to that type of climate"2 .
1) TN.: Thibet, India, China, Japan and South East Asia. The secret Middle Eastern techniques, Sufi or Christian, present dangers indeed but are better adapted to Europeans, among others, if the latter accept to apply certain basic principles however.
2) TN.: The physical body is not adapted to the climate, that is sure, but it is advisable to specify that the other bodies, psychical and mental, are not of the same "texture". Asia's environment, ways of life and mentalities bound to millenary practices and rooted in almost each of the inhabitants grant a flexibility and a sensitivity to those subtle bodies which Westerners have much difficulty acquiring, failing their relinquishing their civilization and practicing at length diverse exercises before obtaining any very concrete result.
Page 380, "dans le Livre du Destin l'Akâsha", "in the Book of Fate - the Akasha"1.
1) TN.: Akasha has here the meaning of "Primordial and Infinite Source" and not speci/ically "etheric substance", although the latter, at a given moment, contains the "karmic decisions", taken on much higher planes; it is so when the event is about to happen. However, the karmic investigation which Franz Bardon advocates here is not done by means of the usual clairvoyance, relatively dense (due to the activity of the psychical and mental body), that is often chancy for submitted to the surrounding influences or to those of the clairvoyant's own Subconscious. That search for karmic (or not) authorization is followed by the "immediate knowledge", tuned in without image, and emitted originally by the very subtle bodies, located beyond the mental plane. That implies therefore that the Magus has a good development not only of his psychical and mental body (if truth be told, still dense), but also and above all of his high bodies (Causal, indeed "Buddhic ", body); that is the result of a high degree of spirituality and which is the prerogative of the "Magi", in the actual meaning of the term.
Page 386, "est encore dans votre corps", "is still in your body"1.
1) TN.: If the magical object benefits the operator.
Page 388, "de Sectes, de Monastères... et je ne dois donc pas les trahir. Celui dont la voyance est particulièrement développée pourrait, il est vrai, facilement les capter mais il risquerait d'être bientôt découvert", "of Sects, of Monasteries... and I must therefore not betray them. He whose perceptiveness is particularly developed could, it is true, tune them in easily but he would risk being soon found out"1.
1) TN.: That hinges both on the plane on which those secrets are kept (generally the mental plane) and therefore on the abilities of the clairvoyant who must be able to read on the same plane. Secrets thus kept on the sole mental plane do not constitute a very high Magic even though the latter is beneficial and very powerful. The secrets which are called "the Tradition" or "Foundations of Hermeticism " (such as those which Franz Bardon now reveals) were and are still kept (for those that are not divulged) on higher planes than the mental sphere the contact of which demands a corresponding spiritual and therefore ethical development; those secrets are the Great Arcana, they are impregnable, even to the world's best clairvoyant.
Page 389, "Abhisheka", "Abhisheka"1; par desformules magiques, des Mantrams, des Tantras", "by magic formulas, Mantras, Tantras"2.
1) TN: "Ankhour" means 'hower transfer". "Abhisheka" (Sanskritic term; the Thibetan word is "Wang" has the meaning of "to sprinkle" and also of "conferred power". The aspersion is effected during an Initiation making possible the transmission of certain occult knowledges. That aspersion of holy water, practiced in some Hindu and Thibetan rites, is to be linked to the Christian Baptism.
2) TN: The 'Mantram ", the primary meaning of which is "thought instrument" designates a sound formula (1 word or several), the recitation of which produces psychical or mental effects. "Tantra": Sanskritic word that means "thread" or "weft". It is a set of texts that constituted themselves from the oral teachings of Buddhist yogins and are part of the Thibetan Canon. Putting those teachings into practice is accompanied by recitation of mantrams and by bodily exercises.
Page 393, "un être "malchanceux"" an "unlucky" being"1.
1) TN: See note on page 380 - Let us specify, moreover, that the Magus obviouslyfinds himself in an uncomfortable position on account of his sensitivity and of his compassion towards those who suffer: On the one hand, he wishes to spare them those (Karmic) evils but, on the other hand, in suppressing these, he slows down the Evolution onset of awareness, lessons drawn, etc. - of the overwhelmed person; in such a case, under the law, he may but mitigate; he will see to it that the Lesson which the person must learn be learnt, but in a softer manner.
Page 394, "par cet acte d'amour", "by that act of love"'; "La femme (partenaire maîtrisant les fluides électrique et magnétique) doit alors inverser les pôles de son corps de sorte que sa tête devienne magnétique et ses organes sexuels électriques", "The woman (partner mastering the electric and magnetic powers) must then invert her body's poles so that her head become magnetic and her sexual organs electrical"1.
1) TN: By the encounter of electricity and magnetism.
2) TN: While naturally the head of the woman is electrical and her sexual organs magnetic.
Page 400, "ensuite dans celui des Nixes", "then into that of the Nixes"1; "le royaume des Fées", "the kingdom of the Fairies"2 .
1) TN: The Nixes constitute a category of the Water Sprites. Exist also the Undines, the Nereids, the Tritons, etc...
2) TN: The Fairies constitute a category of the Air spirits. Exist also the Sylphs, etc.... of the Air, at last the kingdom of the Salamanders or Fire spirits.
Page 403, "chaque esprit de la Terre porte avec soi une petite lampe", "each Earth spirit carries with itself a small lamp"1; "sans qu'il y ait cependant une accumulation", without there being an accumulation however"2 .
1) TN: At the right hand: In fact, what is involved is am electrical ray which the Gnome emits. Although of one-pole nature (Earth Element), each Element contains the germ of the other three. That is indeed the "Fire" (a certain Fire) of the Earth.
2) TN.: Otherwise, a physical paralysis is produced.
Page 404, "les Gnômes pourraient lier le Mage, par leurs propres pratiques magiques et l'Élément Terre", "the Gnomes could bind the Magus, by their own magical practices and the Earth Element"1.
1) TN.: The Earth spirits, to "capture" a human being thus, act through their Element which has a preponderant role on the consciousness: They influence by suggestion the man who then believes to have become an Earth spirit while it is not at all so actually. This state of apparent absorption by the Earth continues only for a while; the human being, going out of that kind of hypnosis, recovers the awareness of his state of 'Four-pole being" and escapes the Earth Element's hold.
Page 407,"Une Ondine pourrait par sa beauté ravissante, son charme et l'enivrante émanation érotique qui est la sienne, le captiver au point qu'il courût le danger de devenir un des leurs, ce qui pourrait entraimer sa mort physique", "An Undine could by its ravishing beauty, its charm and the intoxicating erotic emanation which is its own, captivate him to the extent that he should run the danger of becoming one of them, which could bring his physical death about"1.
1) TN.: In that case, the human being's captivity results from the action of the Water Element: In him are produced a deep amorous emotion, the desire to belong to that Element, to be united to those spirits with such attractive shapes; this therefore makes him dependent on Water during a certain time; then, that kind of bewitchment ceasing, he frees himself from it.
Page 410, "son Directeur spirituel, son Gourou ou son Ange Gardien". "his Spiritual Adviser, his Guru or his Guardian Angel"1.
1) TN.: Guardian Angel or Protecting Spirit has here the meaning of Egoic Body or Soul in the exact sense of the term, a part of onesef to which one is oblivious most of the time. One can also contact the image of the Guru, of the Master who directs the group to which belongs the Soul or Egoic Body. That part of the human being or that body constitutes the Divine Presence closest to man and watching over the latter. The most remote (in consciousness and one of the highest (in vibratory frequency) of the contitutive parts of the human being is, in a first stage, the Monad that he shall contact during a greater spiritual development.
Page 411, "avec l'Ange Gardien n'exige qu'une chose: élever son mental verticalement, comme saisi et porté par un tourbillon", "with the Guardian Angel demands but one thing: raising one's mental vertically, as if seized and carried by a swirl"1.
1) TN.: That swirl is actually a spiral which one first creates mentally, then in which one lets
oneself be carried That spiral spins counter-clockwise, that is towards "dematerialization" or "de--densification " Therefore, to return to one's physical body, that swirling spiral's direction is clockwise: Towards "densification", "the vibratory descent".
Page 412, "la Connaissance Ultime", "the Ultimate Knowledge " 1.1) TN.: "A Brother of Light, a Veritable Initiate": He developed his different bodies so that he can work with the terrestrial planetary energies, then with all those of our Solar System and this, not "symbolically" but "actually". He does not have the "Ultimate Knowledge" yet, for his road is to lead him towards other Systems where the vibratory frequencies are infinitely higher than in ours and where, like a small child, he shall continue his apprenticeship, that is to say a superior knowledge and greater still a mastery of the Cosmic Energies.
Page 414, "que ce Symbole soit le Christ, un Bouddha, une Dévi, un soleil, une lumière ou une flamme ou autre chose, au fond, cela revient au même", be that Symbol Christ, a Buddha, a Devi, a sun, a light or a flame or something else, deep down, that comes to the same thing"1.
1) TN.: That sentence must not induce confusion nor let the reader believe that Franz Bardon had no use for Christ, Buddha, Mahomet, etc... On the contrary, in his capacity of Genuine Magus and of Veritable Initiate, this book's author knew perfectly well the role which each of those Great Beings played on this planet and plays still! Moreover, he did not know it in the abstract or intellectually but concretely on account of his actual contact with some among them. He does however incite the pupil to enlarge his own understanding of the Godhead and to go past "coterie" quarrels.
Page 417, "à un appel "magico-actif "", "to a "magico-active" call"1.
1) TN.: That call is eased when one visualizes not just about any image (which remains efficacious however), but a representation secularly created by Magi, a creation having itsetf obeyed the Universal Laws of Analogy (colours, forms, numbers, signs or seals having to do with the chosen Aspect of the Godhead). That type of image is strongly "charged" with a particular Vibration linked to a Divine Attribute or to a given Universal Plan (which expresses an Aspect of God). When one knows those "images" and visualizes them thus, the contact and the "discharge ", into the operator's consciousness, of the Sublime Vibration, are nearly instantaneous. Those images are called "Telesmatic" (from the Greek "telesma" which means "ritual accomplishment") in the West, "Yidam" (visualization of a Protecting Deity, then fusion into the latter) in the East,- they all result from an Ankhour Magic (see the explanations given on that subject in the previous Degree).
Page 418, "ainsi ce dernier participera-t-il des Quatre Attributs Divins", "thus shall the latter partake of the Four Divine Attributes"1.
1) TN.: This is the Union with God "in oneself" (by opposition to the Union "outside of oneself".
Page 419, "Rituel de Théurgie: il forcera de cette manière les esprits inférieurs à exécuter sa volonté", "Theurgy Ritual: he shall in that manner compel the lower spirits to execute his will"1; "et en Orient ils les nomment "Siddhis"", "and in the East they name them vtSiddhis""2.
1) TN.: "Theurgy": Etymologically "Divine Work". That explains that any lower spirit obeys, without causing prejudice and to the Magus and to anybody whomever, but if it is called up by a veritable Theurgist, that is to say by a being who has in himself (a certain degree of spiritual development liable to channel, if it be but for the time of the Ritual, the Divine Energy,- in this type of Ceremony, essentially "white" (beneficial), the spirit is not called to execute an unhealthy order (harming someone, ...) but generally to effect a work of "transmutation" proper to the lower spheres; a very rare category of Theurgists are entrusted with that particular purification; such was one of the numerous tasks assumed by the Great Apollonius of Tyana. Failing that interior "state" (Veritable Magus, God's representative), the lower spirit sees who is really the operator (his faults, his imperfections, etc..) and then, instead of being "respectfully submitted" to him, it scoffs at him and can cause him great damage: mental, psychical, even physical.
2) TN.: One should be mindful of the fact that all the powers which a human being may possess and manifest are not necessarily the sign of an immense spiritual evolution and thus the guarantor of his Union with God. Indeed, all hinges on the plane used, at the start, to act: the dense planes (considered in relation to the spiritual planes, beyond the mental plane) being involved, that is to say the etheric, psychical or astral and mental planes, even an "ill-directed" (working with the dark forces) person can develop those powers. The Siddhis to which refers Franz Bardon are the powers acquired by the development of the bodies superior to the mental plane, a truly spiritual development, and therefore "divinely directed"; those powers can or not manifest themselves on lower planes, that hinges on the Divine Providence's Will at a given moment and "the Initiate" or the Adept then performs true "miracles, according to the Divine Law, but they are the only ones that deserve the exhaustive meaning attributed to the word "power".
Page 422, "Dans ce Yoga (Kundalini-Yoga), le Gourou oblige son disciple à méditer sur le centre "Mûlâdhâra", qui se situe dans le coccyx, tout en faisant des exercices de Prânâyâma (respiration). Lorsque nous examinons de plus près la symbolique du Centre Mûlâdhâra", "In that Yoga (Kundalini Yoga), the Guru obliges his disciple to meditate on the Muladhara Centre, which is located in the coccyx, while doing Pranayana (breathing) exercises. When we examine more closely the symbolism of the Muladhara, Centre"Page 422, "Dans ce Yoga (Kundalini-Yoga), le Gourou oblige son disciple à méditer sur le centre "Mûlâdhâra", qui se situe dans le coccyx, tout en faisant des exercices de Prânâyâma (respiration). Lorsque nous examinons de plus près la symbolique du Centre Mûlâdhâra", "In that Yoga (Kundalini Yoga), the Guru obliges his disciple to meditate on the Muladhara Centre, which is located in the coccyx, while doing Pranayana (breathing) exercises. When we examine more closely the symbolism of the Muladhara, Centre"1.
1) TN.: The square represents matter (Prithivi). The red triangle (Trikona) symbolizes also the female sex, the yoni (or Universal Magnetism). The phallus (Lingam) represents the universal masculine polarity (Cosmic Electricity). The Kundalini Serpent means the Knowledge and the Mastery conferred by the Union of both polarities (+ and -) in oneself; when a perfect electro-magnetic circulation is realized in all the disciple's bodies, he then becomes a Master. In a corner is found the God Indra (the Earth), mounted on an elephant (Airavata) brandishing the thunderbolt in one of his four hands. In another corner, the Goddess (Shakti Dakini) represents the splendour of the Knowledge and the Illumination when the Kundalini is aroused to the highest point.
Page 432, "2. Indirectement: le Mage agit sur la mémoire en travaillant d'abord sur la substance éthérique", "2. Indirectly: The Magus acts on memory in working first on the etheric substance"1.
1) TN.: The action of Fire (by the sight of a frightful image or scene) or the electro-magnetic power's, provokes a "shock" that distends the etheric link between a person's physical brain and mental body. In that sense, one can speak of a recollection's obliteration or destruction. This phenomenon is temporary however, when one considers a series of lives: one can indeed lose memory during a whole incarnation but, actually, in the pure etheric substance (a given System's Akashic Archives that are obliterated - or rather absorbed by a Great Logos - only at the Great Pralaya's time), nothing is obliterated nor destroyed; it is only the etheric link, enabling the reading of what was recorded there, which is altered. This can happen either by a magical action or following an intense fear or an immense sorrow; nevertheless, those are the same Powers that provoke the phenomena: Fire (by a horrible sight) or electro-magnetism (prompted by the shock's intensity).
Page 434, "J)"Les messages sur le vent"", "J) "The messages on the Wind""1.
1) TN.: This is the literal translation of the Thibetan phrase naming that phenomenon. Alexandra David-Neel describes it in her works. H.P. Blavatsky communicated most of the time thus with the Masters wherever she be physically on Earth.
Page 437, "ce qui lui porterait un préjudice énorme", "which would do it enormous harm"1.
1) TN.: Indeed, Mankind, as a global entity, has a Karma (Mankind's Karma) that permits or forbids, at a given time, the spreading of a knowledge, of a science, of a technique, liable to ease its life, alleviate its sufferings, etc... for those trials are deserved and lead to the evolution of the Collective Consciousness. The wars, the epidemics, the struggles for Freedom, of these last two centuries, balanced a retributive Karma and thus made possible the acceleration of the scientific "discoveries", of the quality and of the generalization of the analgesics, of the technological progresses; those are factors that completely transformed life in a physical body and the material environment of the individuals. If therefore a Magus divulges a knowledge while "the karmic hour" has not come for Mankind yet, he incurs a risk..., but generally the Magus remains silent and uses his knowledgefor himself and in the event for his own; that is not egoism but mere knowledge of the Law.
Page 447, "deux forces de même polarité se repoussent alors que deux forces de polarité opposée s'attirent", "two forces of same polarity repel each other while two forces of opposite polarity attract each other"1.
1) TN. : The centre of the Earth is electrical (+); its periphery is magnetic (-). In therefore charging himself with (-) magnetism, an individual provokes a phenomenon of repulsion in relation to the (-) terrestrial surfiace, the two negative polarities repelling each other, then he levitates. In charging himself, on the contrary, with (+) electricity, the (-) terrestrial surface attracts him in very intense a fashion (the two opposite polarities attract each other) and the individual can be "nailed" to the ground to the extent of being unable to budge.
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