Initiation and the Planes
-One-
Your Standard of conduct
Your state of consciousness
Your Stage of evolution, are
Interconnected, Interdependent and Inter-related
They must be considered as such
You will find many references to service within these training exercises, which are not only intended as a safeguard to insure that the Quester remains firmly in middle of the Right-hand path, that they also ensure that the Quester will evolve naturally, avoiding perversive influences and safely treading the way on his or her spiritual pilgrimage. There is no need to discard your responsibilities to become a spiritual pilgrim. Your Teacher will find you and your path will become obvious when you are ready.
Without service, it could become possible for a Quester to concentrate solely upon his or her personal acquirement of power or powers, with the greatest of self-enforced discipline and unselfish self-denial and yet, because this motive might be subconsciously self-seeking, the Quester could make the transition from the physical plane to the spirit realm at the end of his or her incarnation, less spiritually evolved than an unaware but unselfish person who is struggling to cope with life’s problems.
Lacking theoretical knowledge concerning the Path of Initiation and its degrees, does not prevent anyone from achieving practical progress on the Path, but familiarity with the requirements of the degrees as opportunities present themselves in response to your progress, enables you to adjust your standards of conduct, and monitor your state of consciousness and advance with full awareness to the next stage of your evolution. For that purpose, we are reviewing the initiatory degrees and their relationship to the planes.
Immediately that one attempts to define the planes by name, one runs the risk of causing confusion. It is all too easy to give the impression that there are hard demarcation lines between the planes and separating, them, but such is not so.
It is true that you may visit a higher plane of consciousness than the level to which you are attuned, but only if you are guided and accompanied by an initiate of requisite vibration. This rule holds true whether you are incarnate on the physical plane or have graduated to the spirit realm.
Yet there are no demarcation lines to the planes, each of you carries with you in your own person, the key which grants you ingress to the planes of higher consciousness. The outer periphery of your individual aura expresses, integral to its demarcation line, a microcosm of the ring-pass-not, which automatically impose limits attuned to your vibration and according to your level of spiritual evolution, beyond which you cannot trespass, either when you visit the higher planes or when you make your transition at so-called “death.“
Degrees of initiation
Some of you may have already familiarized yourselves with schools of esoteric study describing initiatory degrees which appear on the surface to differ from those recognized on the Ladder Path. This does not imply that all other schools of training are necessarily inaccurate or harmful, but it is inevitable that differences arise. This is due to an updating of training which our Teachers consider essential at this time, so that mankind can prepare for an accelerated rhythm of planetary activity.
The Ladder Path recognizes and trains to awaken or reenergize nine major chakras or vortices, whereas, some schools recognize and work with only seven or sometimes five major chakras, if the Root and the Splenic chakra are considered as one and the Brow and the Crown Chakra as another center of consciousness.
The Ladder Path recognizes seven major expansions of life flow that are interconnected with the disciple’s inner life and which are realized as integral to the initiatory process. It disregards two lower initiations which are still recognized by some schools of yesteryear, the Elders consider them to be preparatory and elementary in the thinking experience of today’s Questers. Therefore, a greater degree of effectiveness is acquired by passing each of the seven initiations on the Ladder Path and each initiation represents a greater step in the life of the initiate. Do not however, try to equate this series of projected initiatory experiences with those of other schools; the steps of yesteryear cannot prepare you adequately for life in the 21st century.
The Senses
The senses of smell, taste, touch, hearing and sight with which you are familiar, are traditionally associated with the awakened chakras and the planes and were originally related to the order in which they were developed by Ethereal Man. During the latter days of Atlantis however, this order was readjusted in training, to promote accelerated development of the higher harmonics of those skills which were useful in foretelling the future!
When this order is restored to its original and natural course of development, many of the aberrations which now affect the psychic field will be eliminated. The need to see in order to believe, which was put to the test and practiced in the courts of Atlantis has persisted until the present day amongst Humans. When repeated in psychic parlor during last century, it did much to renew confidence in an afterlife, but having delivered proof and provided spiritual comfort to those affected by the most recent century of warfare; it is time to return to the natural order of developing skills in preparation for the Golden Age.
Preparing for the Golden Age
In your contemplation of the initiations and the planes, you come to realize increasingly the inter-relationship between your personal behavior and the activity of your chakras, the pursuit of your goals and your service to the planet.
In deference to the accelerated pace of mankind’s continual evolving experience, the initiatory degree for graduating off planet was raised from the fifth degree to the sixth comparatively recently, so that a greater number of more highly evolved entities could remain on Earth for a longer period of time and in so doing, raise the evolutionary level of mankind. If this decision results in an appreciable improvement to the overall vibration of the planet, it is possible that the degree will be raised again in the future.
The following initiatory steps which we describe belong to the Ladder Path and they may differ somewhat from those which some Questers have encountered in their studies. Nevertheless, bear with us, for this ladder of initiatory steps will be brought into regular practice in the Golden Age for which mankind is preparing now. Our people have used these steps successfully for uninterrupted eons of training and practice; it is the system which is already being used by torchbearers who are preparing the way for the sixth subrace, which will in its turn form the nucleus of the next race.
Physical Plane
Consider your physical form which serves you as a vehicle of expression on the physical plane. It is a receiver of vitality and energy from several sources, generated from within and received from without your physical form, but the freedom to express and the way you express those energies remain your personal responsibility, which is as it should be.
Abiding by your own personal decision while residing on the physical plane, your alternative choices as an infant in arms are controlled by your elders, when you are still young you are influenced by your peers, while from youth onwards many Questers seem to be somewhat pressured by circumstances that very often appear to be beyond their control. Therefore, it should come as something of a relief to be able to control an area of your life which is so important to your future spiritual well-being.
Yet it is obvious, that it is all too easy either to slide into a passive role of cooperating with your karmic inheritance and thus retain a status quo or fall into the role trap of be heaving as a rebel on principle, busying yourself with endless, mundane problems which quite often assume artificial importance and in this way perhaps, avoid considering the problem of the escaping from the karmic circle of return.
Let us return to the examination of your physical form and evaluate its present potential, from the viewpoint of changing the odds in favor of this keeping from the treadmills of cause and effect.
To begin with, reflect upon the fact that your present physical form is only one of your vehicles of expression, albeit the most visible of your bodies which interpenetrate each other and combine to form the complete you. That the average Human on the physical plane cannot see all of those vehicles or observe the aura as a normal occurrence is indeed sad, but it does not invalidate their existence as fact. As a parallel, think of an iceberg for instance, of which only one-tenth is visible to the naked eye, while the remaining nine tenths lie unseen below the surface of the water.
Perhaps not all of your vehicles of expression are as yet to fully developed or maybe your higher chakras have yet to be awakened, nevertheless they are waiting to be reenergize in very much the same way that the dormant areas of your brain, of which, on average, only one-tenth is fully active, are waiting to become involved in your potential evolution.
It is true that of the examples we have chosen, one could comment that the iceberg is fully visible to those who are equipped with diving equipment and that the brain’s activity can be monitored by interested scientists, but so are Man’s more sensitive vehicles of expression or subtle bodies, visible to both gifted seers and qualified researchers in this particular field or to any sincere Quester who uses available and proven methods of observation.
Astral Spheres
We will begin our study of the astral spheres by stating as a point of fact, that for an accurate picture--therefore, an objective description of the astral planes, it is the wisest course of action to learn from initiates who have passed through and beyond those much misunderstood realms, to the highest sphere within the planets ring-pass-not.
These Masters share with us an overview that is undiluted by the philosophical distance which sometimes imposes itself once one has graduated off-planet. Yet, at the same time, you will receive a picture that is uncolored by a personalized and subjective description, which is what would result from the account provided by individuals conscious visit to the astral spheres from the physical plane or even from a description relayed from an entity who resides there, for either account would provide but a partial description of the whole.
The astral spheres are a changing yet changeless realm, which you will now explore with us before you attempt either to work with it or upon it. It is a realm much maligned by those who lack self control or self-discipline, but a realm much sought after as a welcome refuge by the tired and worthy. It remains an indispensable, flexible and unpredictable mirror which reflects mankind’s state of being precisely, with unfailing accuracy, even from day-to-day and hour-to-hour.
Astral Planes
Examining the nature of the astral spheres a little more closely, we find the terms “sphere “ is accurate, because surrounding and to some extent interpenetrating the Earth, the astral spheres follow the shape of the planet. We can also use the term “astral planes “ just as accurately, because in each sphere contains within its boundaries seven major graduated sub planes.
It is as well at this point to state that some schools of philosophy divide and subdivide the planes even further, complicating terminologies quite unnecessarily and conveying the false impression that planes which are actually within the ring-past-not are far beyond it, elevating them to unrealistic levels of evolutionary stature.
Within the terminology of Spiritualism, the higher and lower astral planes are referred to descriptively as the Summerland for the higher planes and the Winterland for the lower planes. Between them they provide what we could term a very necessary “Intermediaryland.“
Established at the end of the Polarian age, the astral planes were initiated by the sacrifice of the wise ones, the planets first teachers and contained within and sustained by the greater thought of the planets Indwelling Deity.
The astral planes of consciousness are color by both the lesser thought of the incarnate entities who have reincarnated on the physical plane and the creative thought of discarnate entities who have shed their physical vehicles, yet discarnate entities are not formless, for while they are resident on the astral plane they continue to use an astral vehicle or body. The Adept of course, is able to create his own vehicle of manifestation by mindpower, creating it out of astral matter by an act of his own Will, which enables him to move unimpeded by physical matter on the physical plane.
Like Onto Like
Because they are colored by the thought of both incarnate and discarnate entities, the astral planes resemble all levels of the material as well as geographically environment. Therefore, following the rule of “like onto like,“
No one leaving the physical plane to dwell on the astral planes feels that they have arrived in a foreign land, although there are sometimes minor shocks in store for individuals who descend to the environment which they consider to be spiritually inferior to them or a happy surprise for more fortunate individuals when they ascend to a plane of unexpected beauty-everyone receives their just reward.
Individuals who are incarnate upon the physical plane, may visit the astral planes by means of astral projection or astral travel, but discarnate entities inhabit the astral planes according to their personal level of spiritual attainment, drawn automatically to the sub plane to which they belong by reason of similar vibration--“like onto like.“ It is this automatic transference to the vibratory level for which we have prepared ourselves and to which we are attuned that urges all illuminated Masters to counsel their disciples to sustain their spiritual aspirations with practical effort.
The Source
The Source is the Truth is beyond all Truths. Some words might be appropriate at this time regarding the Source. We define the Source as the spark which is that particular response dwelling within and issuing from the Deity, within whose aura we all move and have are being. A Source which registers and responds to vibration of requisite caliber when called upon. It is this last phrase which is of the utmost importance to every Quester, concerning as it does, the vibration of your intent and the quality of your aspiration as you reach up towards to the inner vision of your goals, for this vibration is stirred into recognition by the needs of the pure in heart, irrespective of material well-being, level of intellect or depth of misery and response is bestowed regardless of your degree of advancement upon the Path, if you are pure in heart.
Arrival
When the astral realm receives new rivals from the physical plane, they are provided with comfort, explanation, reassurance, healing and counseling if it is necessary. Usually there is someone to greet one, perhaps the familiar face of a relative or friends who have been residents long enough to answer one’s immediate questions and make one feel at home.
In addition to receiving new arrivals, these planes provide a base of operations wherein the majority of mankind prepare to return to the physical plane. Many residents on the astral planes remain there solely to help their fellow man. Healers for instance, who comfort those who need peace of mind and assist those newcomers who are so accustomed to suffering the symptoms of an illness, that they still carry the pattern of pain in their minds.
Enlightenment
Teachers on the astral planes provide all kinds of training and alignment for those who want it. They also help to prepare individuals who are planning to reincarnate in the physical plane and have decided to embark upon a different vocation from what they attempted before. You are not coerced into extending your understanding or expanding your field of knowledge, but neither are you limited, the only limitations are those which you place upon yourself.
Many senior disciples and Masters, hold classes for Questers who study on the astral planes while in the sleep state. You would be surprised at how many great-minds choose to impart their knowledge, imprint inventions and inspire works of art from the highest levels of the spirit realm for Questers to use in their own lives if they wish, upon their return to the waking state.
It is on the astral planes that those who dwell on the higher planes and wish to communicate visibly with individuals on the physical plane, build their own astral vehicles in which to do so out of mind matter. In just such a way the Masters themselves “walk amongst men“ when they need to do so.
Road Ahead
We have learned from experience that when one is incarnate on the physical plane and contacts the higher planes in order to increase one’s skills, the pitfalls which tempt Questers to remain on each plane, rather than press onwords and expand the boundaries of their personal ring-past pass-not, often seem as attractive to many Questers as the goals which beckon them on.
It is natural to enthuse and wish to enjoy if only for a fleeting moment, planes which are of a higher vibration than the physical plane, because each succeeding level is more beautiful and fulfilling than the one below it and it is your own choice when to move on in search of your goal, but even we Dagon, are limited by time itself while we are resident upon the physical plane and have no time to waste.
Spiritual Status Symbols
Do not judge an individuals evolutionary status by his or her level of E-S-P. Some Masters prefer to teach only by example and by expressing their aura of Being. Consider the example of the Mahatma Gandhi, it was his self sacrifice and goodness which provided the instrument for his inner vision.
Some individuals who may have misused their psychic skills in past incarnations, such as latter-day Atlanteans who succumbed to temptation may prefer, when they decide to reincarnate, to renounce the use of their skills of Seership for the term of their current life span. This does not imply that they’re paying a karmic penalty by renouncing their skills, it maybe that they consider them a distraction or do not wish to risk becoming dependent upon them or addicted to their practice.
To those who have eyes to see, the auric bands of light which surround an entities form, provides hints regarding the evolutionary level of an Adept or a Master. Those color bands are also an auric signature which insures an individual’s automatic reentry to the planes represented by the color tints.
Ingress –Doors of Entry
As we may have already mentioned there are particular “ doors of entry “ or ingress by which one may enter the higher plans. These may be opened by intensifying a Path of Awareness, signified by the Ray influence related to an awakened center of consciousness, emphasized in the Questers psychological makeup and according to the astrological pattern chosen by the Quester before birth. By pursuing the Rays positive qualities, the Quester can raise his or her level of vibration until it includes the positive qualities associated with higher chakras, which are stimulated in their turn to their own particular awakening.
The Ray emphasized in a Questers birth pattern is based upon complex data which contributes to and accounts for various degrees of philosophical perception, such as various subtle areas of spiritual expression observed within any Ray-extension of awareness, it explains the diverse types of Seers, for instance.
Each Ray-extension of awareness may provide ingress to the planes, but you must retain positive qualities of integrity and altruism as your constant companions if you intend to take advantage of that ingress. I am using the terms “integrity“ and “altruism“ very deliberately, defining integrity as “soundness and rectitude“ and altruism as “devotion to the good of others.“
Individuals who express the skills of seership earned during an earlier incarnation, but whose present behavior falls short of the level required to enter a higher plane, will not gain entry to any plane higher than that corresponding to their present Soul vibration. The skills or siddhis, are not an end in themselves, they are a side effect only, yet if they do manifest in your consciousness, they can be used as a welcome tool in attaining your spiritual goal.
By perfecting the level of expression related to the Ray which provides your major field of expression, you can expand your awareness to include access to the higher planes even if your formal initiatory acceptance is postponed in lieu of consideration for correct timing, which follows certain laws that have no place in this chapter.
There are however, two other important requirements. The first requirement is the understanding that to ascend the Path by this route demands that your esoteric field of endeavor is balanced by an esoteric field of service. The second and mandatory requirement is that you will be accompanied on your visits to the higher planes by a senior disciple or your Teacher. This arrangement is for practical reasons which we need not discuss now, except to say that every Quester welcomes the opportunity to travel with the senior disciple on a one-to-one-learning expedition.
To encourage Questers to pursue their personal ingress to the planes, we are including the initiatory background of several Masters whose names are known to you. They expressed continuity of consciousness during their lifetime and knowledge of their impending transition from the physical plane. It is true that one of those Masters( Satya Sai Baba) still dwells in a physical form, but he has already foreseen the approximate date of his next reincarnation following is demise.
We have refrained from including biographies of our own Masters from the files kept by our people, because their records are not available to you for confirmation, however fascinating their lives might have been. Only those Masters from amongst your people whose life-patterns are more or less available for your perusal have been chosen. These few incarnations however, should leave ample space in your research for you to seek out examples from among your favorite philosophers and Saints.
Each of the Masters whose biography we have included has been instrumental in shaping their environment and provided a legacy of lasting influence, not because of and sometimes in spite of the world in which there were born. Their destinies were not shaped by the world, they helped to shape the world in which they lived.
Aspirant-Resolve-Physical Plane
The first stage of realization is that there is more to the meaning of life than is presented by the physical plane manifestation, leads you to aspire to greater understanding when you apply yourself as an aspirant to winning that understanding. This level of realization, for various reasons, is called the Resolve.
Although Initiates of various degrees can and many of them do work a great deal of time on the physical plane, the physical plane is symbolically related to the root chakra. However sincere individuals may be in protesting that they wish to attain illumination by treading the Path, the first light of illumination occurs when they would be Quester realizes that as long as his or her state of consciousness is centered at the root chakra, he or she will remain an aspirant as far as acceptance into the hierarchy is concerned.
Protecting Your Senses
It is especially important to monitor the way that you use your senses at this time and take care that you do not coarsened them by misuse or abuse. Although it is possible to improve your physical vehicle and refine and upgrade the use of your senses, it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain them at a higher level of capability if you blur their sensitivity.
Consider for instance, the tainting of your sense of smell with tobacco and the combination of tobacco and alcohol upon your sense of taste. Many of you do not protect your vision until it begins to fail you and the damage inflicted upon your eardrums by overloud noise should be obvious. Even the sensitivity of your own skin is at risk when you burn it by overexposure to the sun’s rays.
Your five senses plus your faculty of mind provide the spring-board for these same qualities when you express them on a higher turn of the spiral, so guard them well We’re not counseling you to become overprotective of yourself, just sensible.
Protecting the Health of Your Mind
It is unnecessary to remind you that you cannot protect your skills of sensitivity by indulging in mind altering substances, even if they were to increase your command of visual phenomena temporarily. Your protective barriers of judgment become impaired and both your perception and interpretation of what you may see are rendered unreliable by artificial enhancement. There is no shortcut to spiritual progress, what you earn is what you receive in the psychic field.
The stage of the aspirant draws many individuals to explore the psychic field, sometimes indirectly by attending spiritualistic meetings-investigating the psychic process by listening attentively-studying subjectively and drawing upon the objective stimulation of investigating the psychic skills of others, but in your resolve to explore, do not neglect the light of reason and above all, let common sense be your guide.
Your goal at this time is to ally each of your five senses in turn with the faculty of mind and E-S-P, to serve as a springboard to the higher astral planes.
The pitfall which you must learn to overcome is distraction of all and various kinds in your life. This is a stage with which every Adept or Master can sympathize because every initiate undergoes a similar experience. It is now, when you wish to progress swiftly and your enthusiasm is urging you to learn all that you can regarding the Path, you want to read all available books written by various pundits and you long to attend lectures explain the newest interpretations of ancient teachings, that you find the mundane duties in your life often claim priority.
Even more frustrating is the effort you make to set aside time for study or meditation which is interrupted by the unexpected, yet commonplace emergency that demands your attention. Before you succumb to disheartenment, let us analyze what really constitutes treading the Path and examine the true nature of these distractions that are so annoying, sometimes they are not what they appear to be.
We are not referring now to minor distractions such as your favorite TV program clashing with your meditation when obviously your study work should be a priority or succumbing to an enjoyable but unnecessary invitation to go shopping, these are obvious. Sometimes, enthusiasm that propels one to attend a lecture, however elevating, but which may cause one to neglect one’s responsibilities might well prove the lecture to be the distraction, rather than the responsibilities. If encountered when treading the Path of Service, opportunity for spiritual progress sometimes wears an unexpected disguise, but the Path is rarely glamorous and these decisions are your own to make.
Accepted on Probation-Response
Lower and Higher Astral Planes
As a Probationer, you are on the stage of the Path called the Response, which is related to the astral planes. Until you begin to work consciously on the astral planes you are not aware of how great an influence they play in physical plane affairs. Positive manipulation of astral matter is an ongoing exercise of mind which necessarily persists up to the levels of the Nirmanakayas.
When you are accepted as a probationer, it implies that your progress is being monitored by a disciple on a higher plane. This is a serious step forward on both sides. A great deal of care is taken to assure that you do not become involved in what might be beyond your immediate potential. This is for your own protection and to ensure that the ongoing work of the ashramic group to which you might be assigned in the future, will not be unnecessarily disrupted by your lack of preparation anytime.
To that end, your karmic record has been studied, a very precise examination of your horoscope as it relates to your present incarnation has been completed, your attitudes, behavior, health and present responsibilities are taken into consideration. Your resolve to tread the path has been registered and the response to assent has been given.
Whether you are aware of being accepted on probation or not, you may experience a sense of relief, perhaps subconsciously, which lends itself to new exuberance of well being on your part and the excitement of anticipation. But this is not the time to lower your spiritual guard by indulging in fantasies which might be fuelled by energy generated from the splenic chakra, which is related to this stage of the path.
The above would be all too easy, because the astral planes, as do all the planes, merge into one another. There are some levels of the Winterland which actually merge with the more depraved areas on the physical plane. This is one reason that individuals entrapped in such an environment encounter so much difficulty in escaping their misery, they are unable to find their way out through the astral fog of despair.
At the other extreme, it is possible to become entrapped in astral glamour. It becomes possible for you to visit those levels of the astral planes to which your vibration is attuned. You may become distracted by a sharper appreciation of beauty and because of the refinement of your senses, experience attachment to thoughtforms of your own creation, within which is possible to become entrapped. This is one reason that we discourage astral travel in favor of travel in your mental vehicle, so that you are less susceptible to astral influence.
This is the time to begin to train your senses positively and practice the exercises of recognition. Remain alert, listen attentively to what you hear, register the flavor of the food you eat and take notice of what you see. If it is possible and when opportunity presents itself, distinguish between the various scents of flowers with your eyes closed or the aromas of different kitchen herbs and spices. Register the weight of various objects when you handle them and train your fingers to sense the texture of various fabrics. Gradually, your level of perception will be heightened and your sensory faculties well on the way to becoming doubled in expertise. But keep your goal in the forefront of your priorities, study, experience, observe and advance to the higher planes.
The sense of physical smell is related to the physical and astral planes. It was not acquired until man developed the Root and Splenic Chakras and was not needed before his form had become dense. Man’s sense of smell served to warn him of dangers on the physical plane.
When your Splenic Chakra has been awakened, this sense is closely related to emotional idealism in your life expansion. Higher harmonics of the accompanying physical plane senses of touch, taste, hearing and sight may also become stirred into activity at this time, although they do not signify that access to the related planes has been achieved, the specific chakras associated with ingress must be first awakened.
Your goal is creative visualization, practiced with non- attachment and used with discrimination in matters of choice.
The pitfall to be avoided is attachment to the creations of your imagination. The creative energy with which you are working must be kept firmly under your control. Because entry to the astral planes is yours at this stage, you must monitor yourself and guard against your attention dwelling upon fantasies of low vibration, either in your waking or sleep state.
Do not waste vital energy by indulging in wishful thinking or daydreams of low vibration when you retire for the night. To do so, leaves you vulnerable to unpleasant astral experience and draws you to the lower astral planes. Sometimes when you make a resolution to purge your life expression of impure thoughts, they seem to intrude upon you in a concentrated form of temptation. This is a normal reaction which will pass if you ignore the fantasy for what it s.
The other extreme is attachment to glamorous situations fantasized by your creative imagination, such as dreams of self importance, which are disturbing if they drain you of creative energy that should be directed to practical service, which is instrumental in bringing many of your hopes to actual realization. They will never come to fruition if you become a slave of your imagination, imagination must remain the instrument of your creativity and be accompanied by self-effort to succeed.
1st Initiation-Rebirth
Lower and Higher Mental Planes
The 1st initiation’s name is well chosen-Rebirth. It is related to the Solar Plexus Chakra which was Man’s lowest center of consciousness when he first dwelt on the planet Earth. The chakra’s reawakening is symbolized by the name rebirth and in your acceptance as a disciple in training, it marks the beginning of your return home on the Path, to your true state of being.
The astral planes merge with the lower mental plane of consciousness at this stage of the Path. You must be aware of allowing astral glamour to cloud your judgment, for doing so promotes attachment to your newly emerging mental capabilities which might be out of proportion to their actual practice. This attitude would prevent you from progressing to the understanding of the higher mental plane and assuming that true judgment which is essential to attain illumination.
We are not referring to your level of intelligence, but of how you choose to use your mind. By expressing your power of thought judiciously, now you begin to receive signs that the five senses which you have been refining in sensitivity since you first resolved to tread the Path, are consolidated and our increased to 10 plus.
Your physical sense of smell will begin to express itself as increased creative imagination.
You will begin to experience your sense of touch and feeling on a higher turn of the spiral and may register incoming telepathic contact for the first time.
A higher harmonic of the physical sense of taste is also sharpened into activity, expressed as discrimination between the pairs of opposites.
The first stirrings of the higher harmonics of hearing-clairaudience and of seeing – clairvoyance may begin to make their presence felt, although they will not manifest as fully awakened skills until their associated Chakras are active, providing ingress to the planes with which these attributes are associated.
Your goal is to train your mental capacity in combination with the intelligent comprehension of your potential contribution in service to mankind. To synthesize that which you already know, with what is yet to be learned and to apply it in your life.
The pitfall is intellectual inflexibility and the temptation to use your mental powers selfishly.
It is an asset to develop your intellect and if it helps you to deepen your understanding and acquire the technique of expanding your awareness through that understanding, but immediately you surrender your reasoning to intellectual arrogance, you relinquish your right to further spiritual expansion. The attitude that one has nothing more to learn or one can learn only from a higher authority, erects an invisible barrier of pride and no Master will increase that character flaw by communicating information, which might provide you with greater reason to express arrogance and accumulate further karmic debt.
The temptation to use your metal power for yourself alone is a separate flaw of judgment as well as a regrettable character trait. No one progresses spiritually by treading a path of selfishness, you progress through service and by balancing your karma. A Quester maybe completely alone in life to all intents and purposes, yet still continue to project positivity by maintaining a philanthropic state of mind to the rest of the world.
Pages 195-226
Training of an
Adept
The Ladder Path
Valerie Bonwick
And Jonathon Bigras
Intaglio Publishing