By Franz Bardon Magic Mental Training I (fromInitiation Into Hermetic)


Take a seat in a comfortable chair or lie down on a settee. Relax the whole body, close your eyes and observe the train of your thoughts for five minutes, trying to retain it. At first, you will find that there are rushing up to you thoughts concerning everyday affairs, professional worries, and the like. Take the behaviour of a silent observer toward these trains of thoughts, freely and independently. According to the mentality and the mental situation you happen to be in at the moment, this exercise will be more or less easy for you. The main point is not to forget yourself, not to lose the train of thoughts, but to pursue it attentively. Beware of falling asleep while doing this exercise. If you begin to feel tired, stop instantly and postpone the exercise to another time, when you intend not to give in to tiredness. The Indians sprinkle cold water on their faces or rub down the face and upper part of their bodies to remain brisk and not waste precious time. Some deep breathing before you begin will also prevent tiredness and sleepiness. As time goes on, each disciple will find out such little tricks by himself. This exercise of controlling thoughts has to be undertaken in the morning and at night. It is to be extended each day by one minute to allow the train of thoughts to be pursued and controlled without the slightest digression for a time of 10 minutes at least after a week's training.

This space of time is destined to the average man. If it should not suffice, everyone can extend it according to his own apperception. In any event, is advisable to proceed very consciously, because it is of no use to hurry, development being quite individual in men. On no account go further before the preceding exercise is perfectly under control.

The attentive disciple will realize how, at the beginning, thoughts rush on to him, how rapidly they pass before him so that he will have difficulty to recollect the lot of manifold thoughts. But from one exercise to the next, he will state that thoughts come up less chaotic, moderating little by little, until at last only a few thoughts emerge in his consciousness, arriving, as it were, from a far distance.

The keenest attention ought to be given to this work of thought control, as it is very important for magic development, a fact that everyone will realize later on.

Providing that the mentioned exercise has been thoroughly worked through and everyone has a complete command of it in practice, let us pass over to the mental training Up to now we have learned to control our thoughts. The next exercise will consist in not giving way in our mind to thoughts obtruding themselves on our mind, unwanted and obstinate. For instance, we must be able not to occupy ourselves any longer with the tasks and worries of our profession when we come home from work and return the family circle and privacy. All thoughts not belonging to our privacy must be set aside, and we ought to manage to become quite a different personality instantly. And just the other way round: in our job, all thoughts have to be concentrated in it exclusively, and we must not allow them to digress or wander home, to private affairs, or elsewhere.

This has to be practiced time and again until it has developed into a habit. Above all, one ought to accustom oneself to achieve whatever one does with full consciousness, whether in professional work or in private, regardless whether the point is a big one or a trifle. This exercise should be kept for a lifetime, because it is sharpening the mind and strengthening the consciousness and the memory.

Having obtained a certain skill in this exercise, you may turn to the following one.
The purpose will now be to hold onto a single thought or idea for a longer while, and to suppress any other thoughts associating and obtruding with force on the mind.
Choose for this purpose any train of thoughts or ideation or a suitable presentation according to your personal taste. Hold onto his presentation with all your strength.
Vigorously refuse all the other thoughts that have nothing to do with the thoughts being exercised. At first you probably will succeed only for a few seconds, later on for minutes. You must manage to concentrate on one single thought and follow it for
10 minutes at least.

If you succeed in doing to, you will be fit for a new exercise. Let us then learn how to produce an absolute vacancy of mind. Lie down comfortably on a bed or sofa or sit in an armchair and relax your whole body. Close your eyes. Energetically dismiss any thought coming upon you. Nothing at all is allowed to happen in your mind; an absolute vacancy of mind must reign. Now hold on to this stage of vacancy without digressing or forgetting. At first, you will manage to do so for only a few seconds, but by practicing it more often, you will surely succeed better at it. The purpose of the exercise will be attained if you succeed in remaining in this state for a full 10 minutes without losing your self- control or even falling asleep.

Carefully enter your success, failure, duration of your exercises and eventual disturbances into a magic notebook (See details under the heading "Magic Soul Training"). Such a diary will be useful to check your progress. The greater the scrupulousness you use in doing so, the more easily you will undergo all the other exercises. Prepare a working schedule for the coming day or week, and most of all, indulge in self- criticism.