“Working with Ralph’s alchemical divination practices has led me to in

credible healing and greater consciousness. His vast knowledge, navigational

skills and mastery as a visionary guide have opened doors I never thought
existed. All areas of my life have improved, I am more grounded, centered,
aware and happier. This is reflected in my yoga teaching, my coaching and
in my personal relationships.”
—Briege Aranaga, Yoga Teacher and Personal Coach.
“The wisdom and insight that I have received during Ralph Metzner’s
divination workshops have been profoundly beneficial to me personally.
With great gratitude, 1 see also that 1 am a more skillful psychologist as a
result of attending these workshops. Ralph has created a powerful set of
tools for visioning and healing wisdom that we need in these difficult
times."
—Janis Phelps, Ph.D. Professor of Clinical Psychology and Therapist.
“Ralph Metzner, in the wise elder phase of his life, after many pioneering
journeys into the nature of human consciousness, brings us highly effective
means of accessing deep insight and healing that he calls Alchemical
Divination. I have personally found his work to be life transforming and
extraordinarily wise. This is a transmission not to be missed!”
—Rabbi Michael Ziegler.
"I have had the privilege of participating in Dr. Metzner’s Alchemical
Divinations on several occasions. Through his guidance I have healed past
traumas, deepened my love and compassion for my parents, grandparents
and sister, and have found greater clarity about my life purpose. His work is
both practical and appeals to my imagination. I come away inspired,
softened, and with a much broader vision of what my life is about. I use
what I have learned through these processes in my own life and with my
clients.”
—Athena Katsaros, Life Coach and Workshop Leader.
“Repeated experience with Ralph Metzner’s alchemical divinations has led
me to a deepening resolution of emotional and spiritual issues within myself
and my family and has allowed my life to more fully rest on a foundation
profoundly connected with the Earth and her mythologies."
—John Westover, Psychotherapist.
“Ralph Metzners divination practices represent alchemy for our time, our
place, our predicament. They are relevant and useful - an organized tried
and true system for self-transformation. It is a way of re-membering.”
—Phil Baum, Counselor, explorer, grandfather.
“Working with Ralph’s divination process has been a powerful tool for me
in my personal evolution. I have had invaluable insights about every aspect
of my life. He is a master at this work and a treasure in my life."
—Jill Moore, Holotropic Breathwork Facilitator.
“The Alchemical Divination processes and teachings offer a human techno
logy for accessing the inner realms, bringing human beings into contact
with the healing powers of the psyche. Ralphs work helps open doors into
the mysteries like no other, and here one may find the great grace that exists
between the worlds as the imagination opens and offers its hand in collabora
tive relationship with humans. These times we are in require new alignment
between the realms and Ralphs work helps people of many walks of life
create bridges that assist in collaboration and new flow of creative life energy
between heaven and earth. The impact of Ralph Metzners work is utterly life
changing — for humans, the spiritual realms, and our planet."
—Monika Wikman, Ph.D. Jungian Analyst, Author o/ Pregnant
Darkness: Alchemy and the Rebirth of Consciousness.
ALCHEMICAL DIVINATION

Accessing your spiritual intelligence

for healing and guidance

BOOKS BY RALPH METZNER

Worlds Within and Worlds Beyond (2013)

The Six Pathways ofDestiny (2013)

Eye ofthe Seeress -Voice ofthe Poet (2011)

The Life Cycle ofthe Human Soul (2010)

Birth ofa Psychedelic Culture (2010), with Ram Dass & Gary Bravo

MindSpace and TimeStream (2009)

Alchemical Divination (2009)

The Roots of War and Domination (2008)

The Expansion of Consciousness (2008)

Sacred Vine ofSpirits — Ayahuasca (ed.) (2006)

Sacred Mushroom of Visions — Teonandcatl (ed.) (2005)

Green Psychology (1999)

The Unfolding Self (1998)

The Well ofRemembrance (1994)

Through the Gateway ofthe Heart (ed.) (1985)

Know Your Type (1979)

Maps of Consciousness (1971)

The Ecstatic Adventure (ed.) (1968)

The Psychedelic Experience (1964), wich Timothy Leary & Richard Alpert
ALCHEMICAL DIVINATION

Accessing your spiritual intelligence

for healing and guidance

by
Ralph Metzner

Green Earth Foundation

&
Regent Press
 Copyright © 2009 by Ralph Metzner
2n<l revised printing, 2011

All rights reserved.

ISBN 13: 978-1-58790-162-1

ISBN 10: 1-58790-162-5
Library of Congress Control Number: 2008941367

Published by
REGENT PRESS
www. regcn t p ress. net

GREEN EARTH FOUNDATION

www.greenearthfoimd.org

Printed in the U.S.A.

REGENT PRESS
2747 Regent Street
Berkeley, CA 94705
e-mail: rcgentpress@mindspring.com
 Acknowledgements
I extend my heartfelt gratitude to Amanda Foulger, for her skillful edit
ing and clarifying of the text; to Cynthia Smith, for her meticulous de
sign of the graphics and lay-out of the book; to the Board of Directors
and financial angels of the Green Earth Foundation for their material
support of this writing and publishing project; and to the participants
in my alchemical divination workshops and earth vision circles, for
their invaluable feedback in the development and application of these
practices.
Sonoma, California,
October 2008
 Contents

Foreword...................................................................................... i

1 Shamanism, Yoga and Alchemy............................................... 1

2 What is Divination?........................................................................ 17

3 The Seven Phases of Divination Rituals....................................... 41

4 Alchemical Light-Fire Yoga............................................................. 59

5 The Life-World and Self-System.................................................... 77

6 Stages of the Life Cycle....................................................................89

7 The Well of Memory and the Tree of Visions............................. 101

Appendix: The Three Chambers or Essence-Fields................... 115

Notes & References...................................................................... 123

 Foreword

Expanding and exploring consciousness has been the central

preoccupation of my life, ever since I was initiated into that path
by the charismatic Timothy Leary, as a graduate student in the
Harvard psilocybin project, in the early 1960s. For about ten years,
together with a group of colleagues who became close friends, I
worked on a variety of research projects with mind-expanding
substances. A keen appreciation of the central role of mind-set or
intention in understanding states of consciousness was perhaps the
central insight that I took with me from those studies. After our
research group left Harvard in a cloud of sensational controversy,
several of us lived and worked together as an intentional com
munity of seekers and artists on a large estate in Millbrook, New
York. My life-long friend Ram Dass and I have recently completed
a conversational memoir of those years, including commentaries
by a dozen others, under the title Birth ofa Psychedelic Culture
(Synergetics Press, 2008).
By the late 1960s I was searching for a deeper understanding of
the nature of consciousness among Eastern philosophies, particu
larly Tantra Yoga, Buddhism and Taoism, as well as unconventional
Western teachings, particularly those ofWilhelm Reich, C. G.
Jung and G. I. GurdjiefF. In my book Maps ofConsciousness (1971)
I wrote about several divination systems - the I Ching, the Tarot
and astrology, as well as alchemy and Tantra, as “maps” of areas
 of consciousness not generally dealt with in Western psychology.
It had also become clear that psychedelics per se merely served to
temporarily amplify perception, both internal and external, and
that something else was needed to actually process and dissolve
the conditioned obstructions to higher consciousness. I spent the
decade of the 1970s in the intensive study and practice of the
light-fire yoga methods taught by Russell Schofield in the School ol
Actualism. I came to understand these as methods of purifying the
channels of perception and the energy-field, akin to those described
in Indian Agni Yoga, as well as Tibetan Buddhism and Chinese
Taoism. I have made these meditations part of my daily practice
ever since and incorporate them into the divinations.
Through my close friendship with the Basque anthropologist
Angeles Arrien, an initiate in the mystical practices of her people, I
came to a much deeper appreciation of the universality of shamanic
perspectives and the rich diversity of spiritual mythologies. My rela
tionship with her was immeasurably helpful and sanity-preserving in
dealing with certain paranoid cubic tendencies among the leaders
of the Actualism school. I will be forever grateful for her compas
sionate support during the greatest tragedy of my life — the death of
my son Ari in a bicycle accident at the age of eight.
In the mid-1970s I started to teach at the California Institute
of Asian Studies, an innovative graduate school in San Francisco,
dedicated to integrating Asian wisdom traditions into Western
thought, particularly psychology. I taught at this school, later
called California Institute of Integral Studies, for three decades
and was the Academic Dean for about ten years during the 1980s.
Through it, I came into contact with a large number of teachers of
consciousness transformation, both Asian and Western, as well as
many brilliant and dedicated students from all over the world. The

u
new approaches to developing human potentials in interpersonal
and group dynamics, such as the “open encounter” then being pio
neered by Will Schutz and others at the Esalen Institute were very
influential. My book on the underlying psychological dynamics
of psychospiritual transformation was first published in 1986, and
then republished as The Unfolding SelfIn 1998.
During the 1980s, I studied the shamanic drumming journey
method of exploring consciousness and divination through the
work of anthropologist Michael Harner, who was instrumental in
re-introducing this core shamanic practice into Western culture. I
became acquainted with the lasting vision quest practice through
Steven Foster and Meredith Little of the School of Lost Borders
and participated in Native American sweat-lodge purification
ceremonies with Richard Deertrack from the Taos Pueblo, among
others. My understanding of the role of mind-expanding plants
and mushrooms in indigenous healing and divination ceremonies,
particularly in Central and South America, was greatly deepened
through my contacts with the pioneer psychiatrist Claudio
Naranjo, the intrepid explorer brothers Terence and Dennis
McKenna, botanist-artist Kathleen Harrison, mycologist Paul
Stamets, chemist and pharmacognosist Jonathan Ott, psychoac
tive ethnobotanist and Mayanist Christian Ratsch, art-historian
Claudia Miiller-Ebeling, and Columbian anthropologist Luis
Eduardo Luna, who wrote his doctoral dissertation on Amazonian
vegetalismo. I am deeply grateful to all these fellow consciousness
explorers for their discoveries and insights, their vision, their humor
and their friendship.
Also during this time, in my practice of individual psycho
therapy I experimented with various ways of combining yogic
and shamanic elements with psychological perspectives. Through
 the wise and generous therapist Leo Zeff, I was introduced to the
therapeutic use of the empathogenic substance MDMA, which
had been invented by the ingenious chemist Alexander Shulgin.
I found this to be one of the best means for facilitating deep
healing states of empathic and spiritual communion. Another
valued teacher and friend during this time, and ever since, was the
psychiatrist Stanislav Grof, a pioneer of the psycholytic method
of working with LSD, and later of holotropic breathwork, who
discovered and elucidated the mysteriously intimate connections
between birth experiences and the transpersonal archetypal realms
of consciousness.
I began conducting groups that integrated the yogic spiritual
practices I had learned with some of the newer psychological
approaches, as well as shamanic divination ceremonies and council
circles. In some of the groups I guided, both in Europe and the US,
we used mind-expanding plants and substances, both traditional
and new, where this was possible and not prohibited. I gathered
accounts of multiple experiences in such groups from several
hundred individuals. This work with groups and individuals,
extending over twenty years, has provided the empirical proving
ground for the alchemical, yogic and shamanic divination practices
that I now teach, that use concentrative meditation, without
substances, to heighten perception.
A series of dreams and visionary encounters impelled me to
explore the shamanistic, animistic mythology of my pre-Christian
Germanic ancestors. This required clearing, in my own mind, the
racist obfuscations laid over that mythology by Nazi ideologues
during WWII. In my search for the historical and pre-historical
contexts of that mythology I was inspired by the groundbreaking
work of the archaeologist Marija Gimbutas. She became my

iv
cherished mentor and friend and wrote a foreword to my book
on Nordic mythology, The Well ofRemembrance (1994). In the
course of studying and writing on those amazing mythic stories
and poems, it unexpectedly became clear to me that they contained
coded references to divination practices (such as “drinking from
Mimir’s well”) that could still be used in a spiritual manner in our
times.
During the late 1980s and 1990s, my interest in divinatory
shamanism as a consciousness-expanding practice converged with
my growing appreciation of the animistic spiritual cosmology com
mon to indigenous people worldwide. At CIIS I was teaching and
continuously up-dating my two main courses: one on the varieties
of altered states of consciousness, both naturally occurring and
induced; and the other on developing ecological consciousness. My
thinking on the latter topic was greatly influenced by the persuasive
writings of the cultural historian Theodore Roszak, who was
advocating an intellectual marriage between the disciplines of ecol
ogy and psychology that he called “ecopsychology.” I agreed with
the basic concept, but wanted to avoid suggesting that we needed
another specialty branch of academic psychology. So I preferred to
call the needed integration “green psychology.”
I also participated in and learned from the wonderfully stirring
and heart-felt Council ofAll Beings rituals that had been developed
by my friends Joanna Macy and John Seed. Their work integrates
elements of Buddhist philosophy, systems thinking, deep ecology
and peaceful but passionate activism. I collaborated with them on
several occasions, including a memorable two-week long course
the three of us led on a remote stretch of the coast in Southeastern
Australia.

v
 My investigations into the historical and pre-historical roots of
the pathological disconnect of civilization from the living Earth, as
well as some possible healing solutions resulted in the book Green
Psychology (1999), to which Theodore Roszak and John Seed wrote
a foreword and an afterword respectively. In this book I aimed at a
transformation of human cultural attitudes and behavior towards
the Earth — away from the dominator ideology that has prevailed
in Western civilization for several thousand years. Along with
many others thinkers and writers, I have become an advocate for a
worldview that integrates a non-violent and equitable global social
order with a commitment to sustainability and the preservation of
all of the Earth’s ecosystems. Nothing less than that, I believe, will
enable the survival of our civilization.
During the late 1990s, in part through my friendship with
German psychologists Norbert Mayer, Christian Rode and Rolf
Verres, I came into contact with the work of Bert Hellinger, who
also became a friend and valued mentor. A former priest, African
missionary, psychoanalyst and peace-maker, he had developed a
highly innovative approach, called “family constellations therapy,”
for working with disturbances in trans-generational family systems,
as well as in group conflict situations. In this kind of group work,
individuals are guided to communicate at a deep soul level with
deceased as well as living ancestors and family members, through
the medium of “representatives.” As I studied Hellinger’s observa
tions and insights concerning systemic family patterns extending
beyond the veils of death, I felt encouraged and confirmed in my
work with shamanic and alchemical divinations, especially since
they were arrived at by a completely different route and from
completely different premises than mine.

vi
 I have come to believe that the kind of civilizational transition
that is required of us all will involve far-reaching transformations
of consciousness in individuals, their families and their communi
ties, and ultimately the global social order. I am inclined to agree
with those who see these collective consciousness transformations
already taking place, below the surface, in many thousands,
perhaps millions, of individuals - even as the superstructures
of military empire and corporate capitalism lurch from crisis to
catastrophe.
An inspiring guide to the long view of this transition are the
writings of visionary “geologian” Thomas Berry, who together
with cosmologist Brian Swimme in their book The Universe Story,
provided an integrative evolutionary cosmology for our time. In
this cosmology the objective scientific point of view and the subjec
tive mythic and moral perspectives are equally recognized and
valued. Thomas Berry has said that in the “ecozoic era” into which
we are moving, our worldview will shift from seeing the world only
as a “collection of objects” to seeing it also as a “communion of
subjects.”
When in the course of a shamanic divination we invoke the
spirit of an animal species or ancestor, we are communing with the
subjects. When we relate with empathy or compassion to another
living being, human or non-human, we are communing with a
sovereign subject. Respecting the subjective sovereignty, equal to
our own, of every living being we encounter, both human and non
human, both terrestrial and cosmic, is the Golden Rule for ethical
behavior in all worlds, at every dimension.

vii
 It is my hope and wish that the alchemical divination processes
described in this book and taught in my training workshops, may
serve to awaken spiritual intelligence and bring about a deeper con
nection with our essential nature as sovereign, cosmic Beings of Light.

* **
 1

Shamanism, Yoga and Alchemy

From the most ancient times, human beings have practiced

disciplines of psycho-spiritual and physical healing, with dedica
tion and intention. Of the three great traditions of transformation
practices which have appeared on Earth, shamanism is definitely
the oldest, dating to Paleothic times, and preserved in some
indigenous cultures worldwide to this day. Yoga and alchemy can
be regarded as the Eastern and Western extensions or develop
ments of shamanism respectively, originating in Neolithic village
cultures and Bronze Age city states. In all three of these traditions,
some practitioners were more focused on physical healing, some
more on psychological problem solving and obtaining guidance
for living, yet others on the quest for spiritual knowledge, enlight
enment and liberation. Many of our modern systems of medicine,
of psychotherapy, of complementary healing and spiritual practice
are the inheritors of one or another strand of these traditions.
Divination practices, which we are concerned with in this
book, are also found in all three of these traditions. Generally
recognized as a process of obtaining intuitive insight, divination
literally means “obtaining knowledge from the divine world,”
also referred to as the “inner world ” or “spirit world,” or “non
ordinary reality,” or “higher realms.” In essence, it involves a
structured inquiry into questions of the past - for healing and

1
 resolving problems; or the future - for visioning and obtaining
guidance. In medicine, the two kinds of divination correspond
to diagnosis, assessing the causal origin of an illness or injury, and
prognosis, its probable future outcome.
The renowned historian of religion Mircea Eliade, who
wrote authoritative volumes on each of the three traditions of
transformation, referred to shamanism as archaic techniques of
ecstasy. The word “ecstasy” derives from “ex-stasis,” being “out of
the state,” out of the perceptual framework of ordinary reality, or
in an altered state of consciousness. The anthropologist Michael
Harner, who has pioneered the re-introduction of shamanism into
contemporary Western culture, states that shamanism essentially
involves what he calls a “shamanic state of consciousness,” in
which one enters into a “non-ordinary reality,” very different from
the ordinary reality of everyday life.
In indigenous cultures, the metaphor for entering into an
altered state of consciousness is the shamanic journey: like an ordi
nary journey, the shamanic state of consciousness has a beginning,
a time in the non-ordinary worlds with various experiences, and
an ending, the return to ordinary life and ordinary consciousness.
The shaman goes on a shamanic journey for a purpose, which
might be healing, or diagnostic divination, or connecting with
a variety of spirits, such as deceased ancestors, spirits of place or
transcendent beings. He/she goes on the journey on their own
behalf, or for an individual, or a family or a community that seek
his or her help.
There are two main technologies for entering into the
shamanic journey state, that are found worldwide: rhythmic
drumming or rattling and psychoactive plants or fungi. Both

2
these methods can induce certain changes in brain functioning,
which form the neuro-physiological substrate for the divination
journey. The drumming method appears widespread in the
Northern hemisphere areas of Asia, Europe and North America.
The psychoactive plants and fungi are found more in the tropical
latitudes, particularly Central and South America, and also Africa
- presumably because of the much greater diversity of plant and
animal life in the tropics.
In the earlier part of the 20th century, psychologists and
psychiatrists reading the anthropological accounts of shamans,
tended to denigrate them as “witch doctors” and purveyors of
superstitious tribal beliefs. The practices of the shamanic divina
tion journey were regarded as fraudulent or schizophrenic, that
somehow had acquired credibility in the local tribe. Under the
influence of the cultural relativism school of anthropology and
the work of scholars such as Margaret Mead, Ruth Benedict, as
well as Eliade, Hamer and others, such views have given way to
an understanding that shamans and the cultures in which they
exist live in a completely different worldview, with different
assumptions about the nature of reality.
The two principal differences between the worldview of
shamanistic indigenous cultures and the modern worldview
of scientific materialism are: one, the conception of multiple
“worlds” or multiple levels of reality; and two, the recognition
of the reality of spirits as autonomous beings inhabiting the
many worlds (rather than being mere fantasies or symbols). The
worldview underlying shamanism, as well as alchemy and yoga, is
known as animism or panpsychism — the belief that all the forms
of nature, both the organic (e.g. plants, animals, fungi) and the

3
 inorganic (e.g. stones, rivers, mountains, winds), both the ter
restrial (i.e. this planet Earth) and the cosmic (other planets, stars,
galaxies, universe) are imbued with psychic or spiritual energy and
consciousness.
Psychologically speaking, from within the Western scientific
worldview, one could say concepts of “other worlds” refer to levels
or realms of consciousness that lie outside the boundaries of our
usual and ordinary perception. The depth psychologies derived
from psychoanalysis refer to such normally inaccessible realms as
“the unconscious,” or “the collective unconscious.” This would,
however, be too limiting a definition for shamanism, if “uncon
scious” is taken to refer to something within the individual, i.e.
within the human psyche. Shamanic practices involve the explora
tion not only of unknown aspects of our own psyche, but also the
unknown aspects of the world around us, - the external as well as
internal mysteries.
Similarly, psychologists would say that all references to
“spirits” are really symbolic expressions for aspects of the human
unconscious psyche; and in the case of Jung’s psychology, arche
typal symbols of the collective unconscious. However, I agree
with those scholars and scientists who argue that the Western
paradigms of reality are in need of being revised and expanded to
include the recognition of the reality of spirits, as not just sym
bolic constructions of the human mind, but as living, intelligent,
autonomous beings, with whom it is possible to communicate
and with whom we co-exist and interact in the multiple worlds of
reality. The alchemical divination practices are predicated on such
an expanded worldview, in which we human beings are spirits
inhabiting human forms, interacting with multiple classes of
spirits, inhabiting diverse forms in this and other worlds.

4
 Shamanic healing practices that involve ingesting medicinal or
visionary plants or fungi, always include connecting consciously
with the spirits of those plants or fungi. Such a dual perspective
that recognizes the spiritual as well as the material dimension is
also found in homeopathy and the traditional herbal medicine
of many cultures. When doing shamanic journeywork, travelling
to other realms, shamans will also invoke the spirit of an animal
species, such as Bear or Eagle, with which they have formed an
alliance or collaborative relationship. Additionally, shamans may
work with crystals and other material earth substances, as well as
with elemental spirits of air (wind), water (such a rivers and rain),
and fire.
An important large class of spirits with whom shamans com
municate and collaborate, are the spirits of deceased ancestors -
family members who have passed over to the other side, the spirit
worlds, and therefore have access to more detailed knowledge of
these worlds than we ordinarily do. And then there are the greater
ancestral, guiding and teaching spirits of whole tribes and peoples
that are traditionally known as “gods” or “deities,” and that play
such a significant role in the worlds many mythologies.
Finally, the whole Earth itself is seen in traditional cultures as
imbued with an intelligent, spiritual being, a goddess known as
Gaia in ancient Greece, or Mother Earth among North American
Indian tribes. The Gaia theory of Lovelock and Margulis is a
perspective from modern science that in many ways parallels
and converges with ancient indigenous conceptions - in that
it involves seeing the Earth as an integrated living system, self-
maintaining and self-organizing. And as we know, not only the
Earth but also the Sun, Moon and other planets are recognized in

5
 ancient and indigenous cultures as the bodies of cosmic deities -
the planets still have the names the ancient Greeks and Romans
gave to these deities.

* **

Yoga comprises, like shamanism and alchemy, a certain kind

of world view, as well as systematic technologies for expanding
and raising consciousness. The title of Mircea Eliade’s classic
work in this field — Yoga, Immortality and Freedom — points to
the essential belief in the immortality of the soul or spirit, and
to the pathways of liberation from the bondage of illusion and
attachment. The word yoga derives from the Sanskrit vooiyuj- to
link, connect or unite: the essential aim of all yoga practices is to
connect with the essential spiritual core of the human being. In
our ordinary states of consciousness the awareness of our spiritual
essence is blocked by superimposed images and obstructions
(called klesas), principally a kind of unconsciousness {avidya or
“not-knowing”) - and hence the yogic path is described as one of
liberation from these blockages.
Some strands of the tradition are focussed on the physical
level (hathayoga), some more on the emotional, devotional aspect
(bhaktiyoga), some on the mental, intellectual (jhanayoga). There
are many variations in terminology in the texts that describe the dif
ferent aspects of the practices of yoga: raja yoga is the “royal path” of
psychological exercises; nada yoga and shabda yoga are the practices
of working with sound and tone; tantrayoga, like raja and knndalini
yoga refers to practices of visualizations of color and form symbols
in the subtle energy field with its energy centers, or chakras.

6
 In the classic 8lh century text, the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali,
believed by scholars to be the codification of much older oral
traditions, the opening line defines yoga as the “cessation of the
fluctuations of the mind. ” In this formulation, our thought
processes, being constantly agitated and distracted by contradic
tory emotions and sensations, form the principal challenge to the
realization of our essential nature. Hence the primary technology
of the yogic path of transformation are the different forms and
aspects of concentrative discipline. However it is clear from
Patanjali’s systematic exposition of the the “eight limbs” (ashtanga)
of the yogic path, that the practices are necessarily embedded in
a way of life: the first of the eight limbs is the ethical principle of
non-violence in all our relations; the second limb is a balanced
diet and sexual moderation. These are considered essential ethical
and behavioral preconditions of the yogic path.
The next two limbs (called asana and pranayama) are concerned
with improving the health and well-being of the physical body,
the basis of all the mental and psychological practices. Asana, the
well-known stretching postures and exercises, aim at increasing and
maintaining musculo-skeletal flexibility and strength. Pranayama
refers to the breathing practices which further the health and bal
ance of the vegetative (autonomic) nervous system, by developing
conscious participation in the functioning of the respiratory, circu
latory and digestive systems of the body. In Western psychosomatic
medicine and psychology, the technology of biofeedback plays
a similar role in helping individuals to consciously balance and
harmonize their interior physiology.
The important fifth branch of the yogic process is pratyahara,
which refers to the inward turning of attention and dis-identifi-
cation with the ordinary objects of the senses - a discipline most

7
 clearly evident in the closed eyes posture of the yogic meditator.
Dharana (concentration) is next, which involves focusing on one
object of attention and excluding or disconnecting from others;
then dhyana (meditation or witnessing), in which there is unity
between experiencing self and the object of awareness; and finally
samadhi (mergence or absorption) a completely unitive state of
consciousness, without separate forms or differences, akin to the
Buddhist nirvana (“no thoughts or forms”). Thus, it could be said
that the goal of the yogic process, in this formulation, is for the
individual practitioner to experience the one-ness, or complete
mergence with divine spiritual essence. The relationship of yogic
practice to divination is that it establishes a strong, clear con
nection to the inner spiritual intelligence, from which come the
insights and understandings that can then be applied in healing
and guidance.
Compared to the shamanic and alchemical traditions, there is
less emphasis in the yogic traditions on connecting with nature,
animals, plants, minerals or metals, and more focus on developing
interior, higher, more refined states of consciousness and subtle
perceptions. Of course, the ancient Indian medical system of
ayurveda does include the physical and breathing practices of yoga
along with the use of herbal and mineral preparations in healing.
In some strands of the Indian yoga teachings, particularly of the
Samkhya school, there is an emphasis on rigorous detachment
from and transcendence of the realms of nature, matter and the
physical body. Important exceptions to this general tendency are
tantrayoga in India and Tibet, and Taoist yoga practices in China,
both of which are closely allied to alchemy in those cultures.
Alchemy in India and China, as well as Tantra and Taoism,
emphasize the transmutation of the physical body and practices

8
of regeneration and longevity, along with the seeking of higher,
transcendent states of consciousness.
Agniyoga is a term and practice from an older layer of tradi
tion in India: Agni is the ancient Vedic fire deity, whose name
was invoked in elaborate rituals and prayers around an exterior
fire altar. As a yogic path, it refers to practices of working with
the interior light-fire energy centers and currents to purify the
nadis, the field lines of the subtle electro-magnetic energy-field.
References to inner light-fire are also found in the reports of
shamanic practitioners, as well as the mystical traditions of all
religions, in which light and fire (or, as we would say in modern
terms, “energy”) are recognized as the essence of all reality and all
beingness. The principle of purification by (inner) fire is one of
the key operations of the alchemical tradition.
The divination practices described in this book and taught in
the M.A.D. training programs, include methods of light-fire yoga
that are used to purify the channels of perception and enhance
awareness of the subtle spiritual dimensions of our being. While
these methods are akin to the practices of Agni and Tantra Yoga in
ancient India, to the vajrayana (“diamond lightning bolt”) path of
Tibetan Buddhism, as well as the Taoist practices of “circulating
light,” my practical and experiential knowledge of these methods
comes from the ten years I spent studying and working, inten
sively and exclusively, with Russell Paul Schofield (1906-1984)
and the School ofActualism. Schofield was an American clairvoy
ant healer-teacher, who brought through these methods (which
he originally called Agni Yoga) from inner sources and taught
his students how to apply them for self-healing and transforma
tive personal growth. The training program was detailed and
meticulously arranged in a series of basic and advanced programs

9
 that typically extended over three to four years; and the advanced
stages of training also involved teaching the methods to beginning
students.
The parallels with Indian, Buddhist and Taoist practices is
something I brought out through my own research and work with
other teachers, so that the methods as I teach them now are a kind
of integration of perspectives from these multiple traditions, with
the Actualism methods providing the core understandings and
techniques. Russell Schofield once told me, when I was writing
about alchemy for my book Maps of Consciousness, that alchemy
was in essence concerned with the same methods and processes as
the Actualism work, although the language used was necessarily
different, considering the historical and cultural context.

* *

Alchemy, which developed independently in Europe, the

Near East, India and China, shares with shamanism the goal
of consciousness transformation, the quest for healing and
knowledge, and the profound respect for Nature. Alchemy could
in fact be regarded as being a development of a certain type of
shamanism, i.e. that practised by miners, smiths, metalworkers,
tool-makers, and their descendants. The psychospiritual purposes
and techniques of the alchemists came in time to be all but for
gotten, and overshadowed by its applications in the experimental
physical sciences.
Modern schools of psychotherapy, especially those based on
psychodynamic depth psychology and the newer so-called “experi
ential therapies,” employ many of the methods and techniques of
changing consciousness that were known in the ancient systems of

10
shamanism, alchemy and yoga. In some instances, for example in
both Freud’s and Jung’s borrowing of alchemical ideas, the deriva
tion is quite conscious and deliberate; in other cases, for example
in the use of inner journeys or imagery sequences, psychologists
are re-discovering or re-inventing methods that have been known
and practiced for centuries in these older traditions.
Mircea Eliade posited in his book The Forge and the Crucible
that alchemy grew historically out of the work of shamanic min
ers, smiths and metallurgists, starting in the Bronze Age. They
were the masters of fire, who knew how to extract metals from
stone, blend them into alloys such as bronze, and make tools,
weapons and ornaments. In the archaic and classical period the
knowledge of metal-working, because of its obvious connection
to power and wealth, was preserved in secrecy and handed down
in craft-guilds from master to student. Such technical knowledge
was regarded as magical by ordinary people, because it seemed to
involve inexplicable mastery of natural forces.
A popular misconception is that alchemy was solely and
futilely concerned with the transmutation of base metals to gold.
In actuality, it is clear from alchemical writings that the main
focus of most alchemical practitioners was transformative insight
and healing: the transmutation ofthe physical and psychic condition
ofthe human being - starting with oneself Alchemists and shamans
had specialized knowledge of plants and mineral substances,
including crystals, and secret initiatory knowledge of the spiritual
dimensions. They negotiated with the normally inaccessible spirits
of nature and the ancestors on behalf of their client communities
for problem solving, healing and guidance.
Alchemists, like shamans, worked with spirits, in particular
the spirits of the elements (air, fire, earth and water) as well as

11
 the spirits of animals and plants. In Germanic-Norse mythology,
the spirits of stone, metal and fire were called the “black elves”
(Schwarzalben) or dwarves. These dwarves were neither bene
volent nor malevolent toward humans. They were said to have
their own agenda, neutral in regard to human welfare or survival.
But one could communicate with them and learn from them, if
one knew how to invoke them (the “access codes,” in our modern
terminology). We can see in this ancient mythic conception an
understanding of the principle that the knowledge of natural
forces is morally neutral: it can be used for good, in the service
of the Divine and of life; but when used for personal aggrandize
ment, domination and enrichment at the expense of others, it
becomes sorcery, the “dark side.”
Alchemy and yoga can therefore be regarded as the Western
and Eastern extensions and developments of Paleolithic shamanism
respectively: all three are systematic technologies ofphysico-psychic-
spiritual transformation. It appears that in the Indian and Chinese
traditions, physical, psychic and spiritual transformation all
remained more connected, even although sub-schools and move
ments arose which focused on one or another aspect. In the West,
the psychic and spiritual aspects of human elemental transforma
tion experienced an amazing flowering in the Hermetic traditions
that arose in Egyptian, Hellenistic and Arabic lands during the
classical era, and flourished well into medieval times in Christian
Europe. It was then suppressed, along with astrology, magic and
witchcraft (the mostly feminine herbal medicine traditions) during
the advent of the scientific, experimental method - leaving only
chemistry, divorced from all psychic and spiritual considerations, as
the modern inheritor of this ancient holistic science and art.

12
 In the European Middle Ages, because of the persecutory
dominance of the Catholic Church, the practices of alchemy and
shamanism (called witchcraft — the “craft of the wise ones”) were
deliberately shrouded in secrecy, as a kind of protective camou
flage. Texts were written and illustrated, but in a symbolic code,
the keys to which were largely lost, and which therefore became
increasingly garbled. It remained to C.G. Jung and his followers,
in the 20th century, to recover the lost language of alchemy and
re-interpret it as referring to psycho-spiritual transformation using
symbolic and imaginal processes.
Jung interprets the opus or work of alchemy as being the indi
viduation process - the moving toward wholeness. The alchemical
vessel, in his view, is the psyche, both individual and interpersonal
relational, in which these transformative processes are taking
place. From my own studies of alchemical yoga, I would add
only that the alchemical vessel should be understood to refer also
to the physical body and subtle energy-field, and not merely the
mental-emotional psyche. In other words, the entire set of inter
related energy-systems constituting the human being is the vessel
in which the alchemical transformations are taking place. The
human energy-systems, which can also be thought of as “personal
ity systems,” are the multi-layered vessel, container, body or form
for the immortal Soul or Essence.

Relationship to modern psychotherapy

One difference between modern psychotherapy and the

traditional transformation systems is that shamanism, alchemy
and yoga are not focussed only on the solving of psychological

13
 problems, as are most forms of psychotherapy. Rather, these
traditional systems operate from an integrated world-view, in
which physical healing, psychological problem-solving, and con
scious exploration of the spiritual or sacred realms of being are all
considered as aspects of the way, or work, or practice. A shamanic
ritual such as the Native American sweat-lodge, for example, is
simultaneously a healing, a psychological therapy and a form of
worship including prayer. The alchemists’ interest in healing is
evident in their search for and preparation of plant and mineral
remedies. Their deep spiritual commitment is likewise apparent
in their quest to produce the lapis, the philosophers’ stone, which
parallels the tantra yoga idea of the vajra, the lightning-diamond.
In yoga, the spiritual purpose, the attainment of higher states
of consciousness is paramount; and physical or psychological
problem-solving is almost a secondary effect.
The purpose of psychotherapy on the other hand is not
generally to bring about physical healing, nor does it concern
itself normally with spiritual values or religious issues. The goal
is usually framed in terms of psycho-social adjustment, or the
resolution of intra-psychic conflicts, or interpersonal communica
tion problems. The split in the Western worldview between body,
mind and spirit is reflected in the rigid separation of the roles of
physician, therapist, and priest. There are however encouraging
signs that this situation may be changing: the contribution of
psychological factors to the origins and the treatment of diseases
is increasingly acknowledged. The work of C.G. Jung with arche
types, of Abraham Maslow with the notion of self-actualization,
and of Roberto Assagioli with psychosynthesis have pointed the
way toward a greater recognition of spiritual factors. The transper
sonal psychology movement, particularly in the brilliant work

14
of Stanislav Grof, pioneer of psychedelic and holotropic therapy,
explicitly integrates the spiritual dimensions into a comprehensive
understanding of the human psyche.
"Hie second important difference in goals and values is that
psychotherapy focusses on changing or helping the other — the
patient, client, victim, sufferer; whereas in the traditional systems
of shamanism, alchemy and yoga, the emphasis is on self
transformation, self-healing and self-understanding, as a necessary
initiatory precondition to working with others. While it is true
that the more sophisticated approaches to psychotherapy are well
aware of the relevance of the therapist’s own perceptions and
feelings to the therapeutic process, these tend to be categorized as
“countertransference” reactions, and seen as an impediment to the
conduct of therapy, to be eliminated if possible.
On the other hand, while it is also true that helping or heal
ing others is the chief interest and application of shamanic work,
such work is always based on the shaman’s own preparation and
inner process: typically, the healer shaman must be in contact
with his or her own power animal or ally, in order to facilitate a
similar contact with inner sources of support and healing for the
patient or sufferer. The wide-spread concept of the “wounded
healer” points to a direct personal engagement of the healer, first
with their own wound or illness, before they deal with the sick
ness or wounding of their patients.
The shaman may journey into non-ordinary realities or the
inner world in order to combat or destroy the “spirits” or “forces”
that are manifesting as physical or psychic pathology. We recognize
the same functional principle in alcoholism or drug addiction
recovery programs, where former addicts who have dealt with their
own psychic wounding are best able to help others deal with theirs.

15
 The comparison of shamanism, alchemy and yoga with
modern psychotherapy as a problem-solving approach that uses
similar methods and similar metaphors, must be tempered by the
awareness that the traditional systems see the human being as an
integrated body-mind-spirit continuum. In bringing these ancient
transformative teachings into the modern world, we seek to
recover a way of knowledge that not only helps to heal and solve
psychic problems, but leads to confront ultimate issues of human
destiny, spirituality and the meaning of life.

16
 2
What is Divination?

Essentially, divination is a structured inquiry to obtain

knowledge about past, present or future, either from sources
within oneself, or from another individual, sometimes called a
diviner or psychic. In traditional cultures and esoteric traditions,
as well as the contemporary “New Age” sub-culture, divination
is usually practiced in conjunction with a symbolic system such
as the ancient Chinese I Ching, the Nordic Runes, astrology, the
medieval Tarot cards, or the reading of patterns of stones or bones
or small sea-shells, or gazing into a crystal ball. In Graeco-Roman
times the professional diviners, called augurs, interpreted the
patterns made by flying flocks of birds, or a slaughtered animals
entrails.
We may regard such systems as divination tools or accessories,
through which the mind of the questioner-seeker and the diviner
are taken out of the usual cognitive framework of rationality
and causality. In the business world, it is often said that in order
to solve problems or devise new approaches, we have to “think
outside the box.” A problem always and only exists as a problem
within the usual framework of our rational thinking. So the non-
rational divination symbol systems serve to shift our perspective,
our point of view, out of the box. We can see that at the core of
all these methods there is the process of asking a question and
obtaining an answer.
17
 In addition to the use of these formalized symbolic acces
sories, there is another and more direct way to access inner spiri
tual knowledge, and that is to go into a heightened or expanded
state of consciousness. In an expanded state of consciousness,
such as a shamanic drumming journey, or an experience with
a psychoactive plant substance, or a concentrative meditation,
we transcend the time-space framework of ordinary reality, and
can ask our questions from the spirit world, or the divine world
(hence the term “divination”). Thus the essential process in
divination involves a questioner or seeker (also sometimes called
“querent”) asking questions and the diviner obtaining answers,
by non-rational, non-analytical means. In the inner traditions of
shamanism and alchemy the querent and the diviner are one and
the same person, accessories are dispensed with, and one taps into
direct intuitive knowing.
The importance of being clear and explicit about one’s question
cannot be over emphasized. If we approach a wise person or
teacher or counselor we can hardly expect to learn from them
unless we are clear about what we are asking. Similarly, in any
kind of divination process, whether using a symbolic template,
or going into an expanded state of consciousness, the value and
significance of the information or guidance received is very much
a function of the manner of the question. Asking a question is a
basic gesture ofreceptivity. If we are in a conversation and I ask you
a question, any question, even a mundane one (such as “What
time is it?”) I am then receptive to what you are going to say next.
III haven’t asked the question, I may or may not be receptive to
what you are going to say, because my attention may be elsewhere
occupied. So, when in a spiritual divination, I ask a question,
addressing my inner wise self, or my intuition, or my shamanic

18
power animal, or my ancestral spirit guide (however I conceive of
this inner wisdom source), the next thought, or image, or feeling
or memory that comes to mind is the response, from that wise
source.
The simplest and most direct expression of this self-divination
process is the phrase “I asked myself...” If I’m pondering or
reflecting on any kind of issue, whether in relation to work, or
interpersonal relations, or creative expression, the use of that
phrase implies the belief that there is a part of me that is wiser
and more knowledgeable than I am personally, at this time.
Otherwise, why would I be asking the question? So, I would like
to suggest to the reader of this book, that from time to time as
you read the thoughts I am presenting, you stop and ask yourself
whether what is being said “rings true” or, in other words, is
confirmed by your own inner wise self.
This process, divining by simply asking your inner wise or
guiding self, is also involved in the practice known as “dream
incubation.” This is one of the best ways to increase the meaning
fulness of ones dreams: before you go to sleep you ask your inner
guide, your dream-weaver, for help in solving a particular issue.
Whatever dreams may come can then be much more readily
interpreted as symbolic answers to the question you posed.

Divination and the scientific method

Modern individuals, trained in a scientific outlook, tend to

shy away from divinatory practices, fearing to give any credence
to what they consider ignorant and irrational superstition.
However, to say that divinatory practices are non-rational is not
to say they are irrational, or based on superstition. It has been said

19
 that the divination systems, such as the Tarot or the I Ching,, are
simply ways of structuring intuitive knowledge. Intuition plays
a significant role in the empirical research methods of science.
It is intuition from which the scientist obtains the hypotheses
and theories, which are then tested by observation and experi
ment. Albert Einstein was famous for describing the divinatory
“thought-experiments” (as he called them) by means of which
he arrived at his theory of relativity: he said he imagined himself
traveling at speeds approaching the speed of light, and asked
himself what would happen to the dimensions of space.
My friend, the pioneering English biologist Rupert Sheldrake,
author of A New Theory ofLife and other works, has pointed out
that a scientific experiment is essentially a sophisticated form of
divination — the asking of a question. In a typical experiment,
whether in the natural or social sciences, all the known variables
but one are held constant, so that the observations that are made
(the dependent variable) can be reasonably attributed to the one
parameter that is allowed to vary in a controlled fashion (the
independent variable). An experiment is a divination situation in
which we are asking a question of Nature, and testing our under
standing of the underlying laws and forces (called “theory”).
Divination, in other words, is an empirical procedure.
Intuitive knowledge is subjected to testing and verification by
experience. Just as an experiment gives us results that are then
used to confirm or disconfirm our theory or hypothesis, so the
knowledge obtained by intuitive divination is also subject to veri
fication or confirmation. In the realms or medicine and healing,
the divination to discover the cause of the illness is the process of
diagnosis; and the confirmation of the diagnosis is in the healing
or cure of the illness. “The proof of the pudding is in the eating”

20
is the old saying, which should perhaps be more accurately stated
as “the proof of the rightness of the recipe for the pudding is in
the eating.”
At the same time, the fact that some insight or point of view
comes from an intuitive source does not guarantee its correctness
or appropriateness. Intuitive perceptions can be mistaken, just
like ordinary sense perception. I may see a man walking down the
street, and after a while, as the distance between us gets smaller,
I realize the figure is really a woman - I correct my perception
by further observation. My teacher Russell Schofield used to say
that when he obtained an intuitive perception about something
that seemed unusual, he would ask again and again, sometimes
nine or ten times, to determine if the answer he was getting to his
question was consistent. So in any divination, if the answers we
get are unclear or unbelievable, we can ask repeatedly for further
confirmation or clarification.

Intuition, intelligence and prediction

I have come to think that the use of divination practices, like
scientific experiments, involve both intuition and intelligence.
The word “intelligence” comes from Latin inter - “between” and
legere - “ to choose, separate and sort.” Intelligence is the ability to
relate thoughts to perceptions, to discern meaning in phenomena,
and to apply knowledge gained from experience to the concrete
facts of any situation. It is intelligence that enables us to formu
late a question in a divination that is relevant to our real needs
and interests. Intelligence is required to interpret the symbolic
patterns in a divinatory reading and to apply the insights received
to our situation. Intelligence is adaptive and practical - it is
knowledge applied in action.
21
 A key conception in modern cognitive psychology is the
theory of multiple intelligences. According to the the theory
originally put forward by Howard Gardner of Harvard University,
there are seven kinds of intelligence, related to distinct neural
circuitry in the brain: verbal, mathematical, spatial, musical,
kinesthetic, interpersonal and intrapsychic. The theory and testing
and developing of multiple intelligences has found widespread
acceptance and application in education. In addition, the writ
ings of Daniel Goleman popularized the notion of emotional
intelligence - which involves both recognizing ones own feelings
(intrapsychic) and sensitivity to those of others (interpersonal).
More recently, Goleman and others have written about social
intelligence, which is now being seen as crucial to the general
well-being and effective functioning of families, organizations and
communities.
Further extensions of the theory of multiple intelligences have
posited a possible natural or ecological intelligence, which would
be the adaptive ability to apply knowledge of the non-human
natural environment to basic issues of survival, growth and health
in communities and societies. I suggest that spiritual intelligence
is the ability to apply the knowledge and awareness of the higher-
frequency, spiritual dimensions, obtained through intuition and
divination, to the problems and challenges of living in a multi
dimensional world.
Though the dictionary defines divination as “the art or act of
foretelling future events by alleged supernatural agency,” this is
a misleading definition. It should be understood that divination
about the future, also known as augury, prophecy, presentiment,
foresight, precognition or visioning is notforetelling or predicting.
The future visions sought in a vision quest or divination ceremony

22
are not so much inner movies in which we see what is going to
happen. Rather, they are instructions or guidance tor the behavior
of the individual in probable or possible future situations.
Ordinary people, including business people, do this kind of
anticipation or projection of future trends and probabilities all
the time - especially in relation to the weather and to economic
conditions. Complex statistical and computer models are used
in forecasting, scenario building, trend analysis and the like.
The chief difference in such methods from shamanic, yogic or
alchemical divination, is that in the latter one goes into an altered
state of consciousness to do the divinatory questioning, to rise out of
the inevitably limited, normal time-space framework of perception.
In the shamanic knowledge-seeking and visionary traditions one
can therefore ask questions equally about the future or the past, or
the hidden present.

Divination, altered states and psychedelics

There is a long history of different methods of inducing

altered, heightened or trance-like states for divination. The word
“trance” derives from Latin transire, “to pass or move across,”
and is related to transit, transition and transient. All altered
states involve a transition or disconnect of some kind from the
waking state of ordinary life; then a period of time in which the
psychological functioning of mind, emotion and perception
are different; and then a return to the ordinary waking state for
integration and application. Trances and altered states follow
the pattern of a journey: departure, travelling through (interior)
space, and then returning home. In the classic shamanic journey
traditions, rhythmic drumming, rattling or chanting is used

23
 to facilitate the entering into, travelling through and returning
from the spirit world — while the physical body lies prone on the
ground. Research in consciousness and brain function suggest
that something called auditory driving or entrainment takes place:
the rhythmic beat of the drum brings the rhythms of breathing,
of the heart, and of the brain into resonance or coherence with
each other.
The other main method for inducing the divinatory journey
trance in shamanic traditions worldwide involves psychoactive,
visionary or entheogenic plants or fungi, such as ayahuasca in
South America, iboga in Equatorial Africa, and the psilocybe
mushroom (teonanacatl) in Meso-America. Among the Mazatecs
in the highlands of Mexico there is also the rare use of an infusion
of a leafy plant called the “sage of the diviners” (salvia divinorum).
It appears that the choice of which method is used is partly a
function of ecology: in the Northern hemisphere areas of Asia
(where the word shaman originates), Europe and America the use
of rhythmic drumming is more common; whereas in the tropical
regions, where plant diversity is greater, plants, roots and fungi
have been found that profoundly alter consciousness.
The choice of method may also be a function of history and
the socio-political context. Michael Harner has suggested that
in Central Europe the rhythmic drumming journey method
(still used by the Sami in Northern Scandinavia) was, during the
Middle Ages, abandoned by shamanic practitioners (known as
“witches”), to avoid detection by the enforcers of the Inquisition.
Instead, the silent and therefore safer use of plants was adopted
for shamanic journey work, giving rise to the folklore of witches’
ointments and brews. Unfortunately, the psychoactive plants
available in the Central European temperate zone are from the
solanaceous nightshade family (datura, henbane, belladonna), in
24
which the dissociative factor is particularly strong, making this
method less reliable and more complicated.
It should be said too that in classic entheogenic plant divina
tion ceremonies the ingestion of plant concoctions or prepara
tions is usually combined with the rhythm method: the chants
and songs of the mushroom curanderas and the ayahuasqueros
have a soft, but persistent rhythm, and may be accompanied by
the rattling of branches of dried leaves; and the ceremonies with
peyote and iboga involve prolonged and vigorous drumming as
well. The plant substances provide an amplification of perception,
and the rhythmic auditory entrainment provides the sense of
traveling through (inner) space. The Asiatic shamans say the beat
of the drum is the hoof-beat of the spirit horse they are riding on
their journey.
In modern societies, the successors to the shamans of indigenous
peoples are the psychiatrists and psychotherapists, who seek
to unravel the tangled skeins of dysfunctional mind-body
patterns and integrate them into a more harmonious, less painful
wholeness. The psychiatric anamnesis (“un-forgetting”) is exactly
analogous to the shamanic soul retrieval, and the divinatory
re-membering. The broken connections of one’s past history to
one’s present condition are recalled and recollected, and can
then be integrated and made whole again. Painful, traumatic or
confusing experiences tend to freeze or distort the normal process
ing of our experience.
In the various forms of hypnotherapy, particularly those
pioneered by the American master-healer Milton Erickson, a deep
hypnotic trance state helps to disconnect the mind from its current
fixations, thus facilitating re-connection with deeper, earlier
learnings. “My voice will go with you,” was Erickson’s mantra to

25
 accompany the individual in their absorptive trance. In the holo-
tropic breathwork therapy developed by Stanislav and Christina
Grof, a deep altered state is induced by deliberate hyperventila
tion and high-intensity dramatic music — a state that facilitates
access to (usually) traumatic birth memories, and through the
peri-natal gateway to the transpersonal realms.
Though the use of entheogenic plants, fungi or psychedelic
substances can amplify perception of the core question-and-
answer process in divination or psychotherapy, it is not essential
to it; and it does have some drawbacks, chief among them being
that intensified awareness of somatic responses to the drug can
make concentration more difficult, especially for an inexperienced
person. Even the experienced shamans in South America, for
example, will use low intensity psychoactive substances (such
as tobacco) or dosages when they are dealing with particularly
difficult diagnostic questions. When psychoactive drugs are used
to amplify the psychotherapy process, the use of low-intensity
graduated dosages, the “psycholytic” approach, is preferable to the
high-dose “psychedelic” paradigm — with the possible exception of
the treatment of alcohol or drug addiction, where the high dose
intense experience may provide longer-lasting relief from relent
less cravings and withdrawal sensations.
For contemporary seekers in the psychedelic sub-culture, the
exclusive reliance on drugs when doing inner exploration
(i.e. “tripping”) has the further liability of confusing the answers
one receives in response to divination questions with a pharmaco
logical drug effect. “I took this drug (or plant, or mushroom) and
had this vision” is a typical account, which tends to overlook or
minimize the crucial role of set (intention, question) and setting
(context) in determining the contents of one’s experience.

26
 For all these reasons, as well as the additional, very practical
reason that the possession and use of mind-expanding plants
and drugs is mostly illegal in most modern states (as it was in
the European Middle Ages), I personally have come to prefer,
and teach in the alchemical divination trainings, to use the yogic
methods of concentrative meditation, supported by rhythmic
rattling or drumming, during divination. In practical terms, con
centration on a persistent, simple rhythmic beat is actually much
easier than concentration on a visual object or an abstract inner
quality. It facilitates the mental tracking of questions posed and
answers received, and reduces distraction by wandering thoughts.
Besides the two methods of divination we have discussed so
far - the use of a non-rational symbol system and entering into
an altered state of consciousness - there are some other methods
that have been used traditionally to enhance perception of non
ordinary or hidden aspects of reality. Gazing into a crystal ball,
also called scrying, is one of the traditional practices of focusing
clairvoyant perception. Erroneously assumed to be limited to
prophesying the future, the practice refers to the perception of
normally hidden aspects of past, present or future, i.e. divination.
Carlos Castaneda, in his writings on the teachings of
the Yaqui Indian sorcerer Don Juan, lists a number of other
practices to develop what he calls seeing (i.e. non-ordinary,
clairvoyant perception). He stated that different individuals
on the sorcerer’s path of learning to enhance their seeing ability
might specialize in one or another of these natural phenomena
for their concentrated gazing: fog or mist, clouds, smoke, rain,
rock faces, stars, fire or streaming water. Gazing into fire is also
the divinatory perception practice in Native American Church
peyote ceremonies, which are held in a teepee, sitting around

27
 a fire. Gazing into streams or pools of water was a clairvoyance
practice widespread in the classical period.
The psychiatrist Raymond Moody, who was one of the first
to research the transcendent near-death experiences (NDEs) that
some individuals report in the course of surgery or accidents,
also re-discovered an ancient method of perceptual divination
through gazing into pools of water and mirrors. He found,
through his research, that in ancient Greece, special temples
or sanctuaries existed where people would come and gaze into
underground pools or the mirror-like surfaces of shining bowls
of bronze, and receive messages and visions from their relatives
in the spirit world. Moody created a modern replica of such a
divination chamber, which he called a “psychomanteum” - a
room lined with black cloth and an inclined mirror, in which
individuals could, with appropriate preparation and intention,
receive visions and communications from deceased relatives.
We can see that in all the different methods of divination,
whether they involve an intuitive symbol system or an induced
state of amplified perception, the core of the process is the posing
ofa question and the receiving ofan answer. The questioner or
seeker is the personal ego-self, in search of healing or guidance.
The diagnostic or visionary insight is received from a source
(wise self, intuition) or a being (deity, power animal, spirit
guide) with access to higher, spiritual perspectives or hidden forms
of knowledge. This source is either mediated or channeled by
another human being, called the diviner (or medium, psychic,
teacher, sage); or it is accessed directly through a structured,
intuitive inquiry process. In all cases a framework of appropriate
set and setting, or intention and context, is essential to the
effectiveness and usefulness of the outcome.

28
 The alchemical divination methods we are discussing in
this book, and which are taught in the Metzner Alchemical
Divination training program, have both shamanic and yogic ele
ments, as we have seen, and use the symbolic language of alchemy
to describe the energetics of consciousness transformation.

Green-skinned Osiris, lord of life, death and re-birth, at the cusp of time, between two
eyes, gazing into past and future. (From a tomb painting. Valley of the Kings,
XIX Dynasty, 13th Century BCE.)

29
30
The Janus Model of Divination & Integration

Past Present Possible Futures

The dual movement ofpast and future divinations

There are rwo main kinds of Transformation processes

involving divination, with correspondingly different questions or
intentions - those relating to the past and those concerned with
the future. Divinatory questions about healing and conflict always
involve looking into the past, to diagnose or find the causal root
of an illness, pain, trauma or unresolved problem or conflict. We
may look, as in the Western medical model, for the causal origin
of an infection, or germ, or virus, or bacteria or wounding or
trauma - where some disruptive factor came into the system. In
indigenous shamanistic societies, the disruptive causal factor in
an illness may be identified as deliberate harm caused by another
(sorcery) or an unintentional offense to local spirits. The cause of
illness may also be seen as the splitting off of a psychic identity
fragment, or “soul loss,” usually due to some form of trauma. For
the healing process to be complete, the past painful or traumatic
experience then needs to be integrated into one’s present reality
and sense of self.
So healing or therapy or conflict resolution, whether in the
individual or in a collective (family or community) always and
necessarily involves a double process: conscious regression, for
diagnosis, truth-telling and de-toxifying catharsis; and then
recollection or re-membering or reconciliation, for integration.
We can see this double movement in the physical healing process
of an individual, in psychotherapy or recovery from addiction,
in systemic family constellation therapy, and in the “truth and
reconciliation” processes instituted in post-apartheid South Africa
for communities fractured by protracted conflict.

31
 A completely parallel situation of double movement obtains
for the vision or guidance-seeking process of future divination. If
the question or intention involves one’s future work, or the future
of a relationship, or the expression of one’s creativity, or one’s
spiritual destiny (a concept related to “destination”), one “looks
ahead,” down the probability lines of time-and-space. Individuals
may then see themselves doing something or relating to others in
a new and unfamiliar way. We might call this a precognition, or
foresight or forethought, or even a presentiment. The perception
of a possible future provides the inspiration that then needs to be
integrated back into one’s actual present sense of self.
For example, the young person who envisions him or herself
as a doctor in the future (“I’m going to be a doctor”) will then
need to take the steps, one by one, that lead to being trained in
medicine - thereby realizing his vision, his dream. The couple
who have a vision of themselves as founding a family with
children, or collaborating on a partnership project, will then need
to go through the steps of courtship and marriage to integrate
and realize that vision. A person who goes on a vision quest in
the wilderness to receive a vision for their life, will then want to
integrate and realize that vision in a step-by-step fashion.
While the modern worldview sees memory and precognitive
visioning as two entirely different processes, one factual and the
other speculative, in the shamanistic worldview of traditional
societies they are seen as equivalent and parallel. Seeing into a
possible future for them is no more difficult than seeing into the
hidden past - especially in heightened states of awareness where
we are lifted out of the usual time-space framework. I have myself
come to see memory work as essentially and functionally equi
valent to visioning work, perhaps mediated by the same neural

32
circuitry. Like the Roman two-faced deity Janus, we can direct
our attention and awareness, using intention, equally easily into
the past or the future.
I came to this view in part through some experiences with
night-time dreams. When I was an administrator at the Institute
where I worked for many years, I would often have dreams of
sitting in meetings with my colleagues. I would get annoyed
at my seeming inability to find sleep-time respite from boring
chores. One day I was surprised to notice that I seemed to be
dreaming the meetings I was already scheduled to hold, several
days in advance. The dreams seemed to be a kind of rehearsal, an
anticipatory meeting of minds.
A surgeon has told me that not infrequently he (and his
colleagues) dreamed that they were doing a surgery - when they
were scheduled to perform it the following day. (I found this
information heartening and hope that if I am ever to have surgery,
my surgeon will be so well practiced that he can perform it in his
sleep). Rehearsal dreams like this may be more common than we
realize, particularly for athletes, actors and other performers of
complex skills.
The surgery rehearsal dreams were recognized by the doctor as
future visions upon waking up. However, I found it interesting to
observe that my pre-cognitive meeting dreams did not come with
a time-indicator attached, telling me that it was a future vision.
I could have assumed that they were the re-processing of past
meetings or the symbolic working out of psychological difficul
ties - which some dreams clearly are. There are also numerous
anecdotal reports of pre-cognitive warning dreams: for example,
a woman dreams that the plane her husband is scheduled to take
the next day crashes - and she is able to warn him.

33
 Is it possible that this bidirectional functional equivalence of
memory and foresight evolved in the course of human evolution?
Perhaps large-brained hominids found they could consciously
learn from past experiences and consciously receive anticipatory
dreams and visions. Such capacities would evolve as they were
selected for their adaptive advantage. In stone-age societies, if a
band of hunters goes on a multi-day hunt, and the survival of the
home community depends on their returning with food, anticipa
tory visioning and telepathic communication would be life-saving
capacities. Anthropological evidence from the Australian aborigi
nal cultures and the San Bushmen of the Kalahari suggests the
presence of highly developed psychic functions akin to clairvoy
ance and telepathy in pre-literate cultures.
Some of the formulations of quantum physics, particularly
the principle of nonlocality, also suggest that at the subatomic
level time is bi-directional or symmetrical. Physicist Russell Targ
has written:
“In 1927, Nobelist Erwin Schrodinger pointed out that quantum
theory predicts that elementary particles or photons of light created
in a single event or instant will remain twins over their lifetime. ... This
entanglement between the twin particles is called nonlocal because the
connection is instantaneous and independent of spatial separation.
... 11 we live in a nonlocal universe, as we appear to, then we are, or
can be, in direct contact with both our past and future selves - and
with others of like mind. ... We call this ability to focus attention on
distant points in space-time nonlocal awareness. ... How does con
sciousness access nonlocal space? Through the process of intentional-
ity, which is fundamental to any goal-directed process, including the
retrieval of memory.” (Targ, Russell. Do You See What I See?p. 126)

34
 Remote viewing can be considered a contemporary variant of
traditional divinatory seeing. In remote viewing an individual
attempts to clairvoyantly “see” hidden factors of present reality
and future developments. Training programs were developed
and researched by Ingo Swann, Russell Targ, Hal Puthoff and
others, and applied in espionage work by the CIA and military
intelligence services. In this kind of “seeing” one needs to be able
to set aside the personality characteristics, opinions and feelings
of the viewer. So the protocol adopted in remote viewing is that
“targets” are chosen “blind,” and have no particular relation to the
past history or future interests of the viewer.
In the kinds of psychospiritual divinations we are discussing
here the intention or question of the individual seeker guides the
process, and that makes it totally personal. The questioner seeks
answers to personal questions of their past or their future. The
use of centering meditation facilitates transcending the space-
time boundaries. The bias of personal expectations, fears and
ego-centric wishes needs to be confronted directly and reduced
by repeated testing and verification. Furthermore, it is the integra
tion of past or future perceptions into one’s present framework
of interests, values and plans for action that makes the divination
process personally relevant and significant. Past memories or
future visions that are not integrated or applied to do not contrib
ute to wholeness or growth.

35
 We may summarize the implications of the Janus model of
divination and transformation in the following statements:

Intentional memory with conscious integration is re-membering,

and leads to healing and increased wholeness.

Unconscious memory without integration is flashback regression,

and leads to hopelessness or useless nostalgia.

Intentional vision with conscious integration is inspiration,

and leads to realization and creative expression.

Unconscious vision without integration is fantasy,

and leads to loss offaith and pointless distractions.

Mythic Deities and Spirits of Divination

All cultures worldwide know methods of divination and tell

mythic stories of spirit beings or divinities associated with them.
During divination rituals, the diviner and the seeker (who may or
may not be the same person) will typically invoke the assistance
of such spirits at the beginning and offer prayers of gratitude for
the inspiration at the end. I will describe here several of the deities
from classical European mythology that have particularly inspired
my work and whom I continue to invoke when practicing and
teaching the alchemical divinations.
Janus is the Roman (and possibly earlier Etruscan) deity asso
ciated with doorways, gateways and passageways. His image with
two faces in opposite directions could be found above the door
ways to a house or temple, or on coins of the realm. His name is
embedded in the roots of the English words janitor and January.
Janitors are gatekeepers and Janus was the gatekeeper of the gods

3b
 (and humans), as in this line from the
Roman poet Ovidius: “Janus sits at
heaven’s gate and regulates the comings
and goings of the gods.” January is
the first month of the New Year after
the Winter Solstice turning point, the
time-gate when we can review the past
and preview the future.
Hermes is the Greek deity who carries messages back and forth
between the realm of the gods and the realm of humans, i.e. divi
nation. His winged feet and winged caduceus staff symbolize his
ability to fly between the realms. As Hermes Trismegistos (“Three
fold”,) he is the legendary Egyptian adept-teacher who founded
the lineage of the alchemical hermetic school of transformation.
In the famed Emerald Tablet attributed to this teacher, we find
the aphorism “As above, so below” - referring to the analogical
resonance between the macrocosmic and microcosmic realms of
consciousness and reality. One of my favorite Hermes stories is
the one where he arrives to warn Odysseus, who is on the way
to rescue his men from the malicious spell of the sorceress Circe,
who had turned his men to swine. Hermes gives the wily warrior
a special plant (called moly) to eat, which will antidote Circe’s
spell and help him remember his human-ness - and thus rescue
his men from their animalistic delusion.
There were many oracular sites in ancient Greece, where divi
nation was practiced, the most famous being the one at Delphi.
Originally, this was a shrine to the Earth Goddess Gaia, whose
priestess, called Pythoness, sat on a tripod inhaling what may
have been psychoactive fumes emanating from cracks in the rock,
inspiring her oracular utterances. When the Hellenes invaded the

37
 ancient Cretan goddess cultures, Apollo took over the shrine, got
rid of the sacred serpents (“he slew the Python” as the story goes)
and installed male priests. When the hero Heracles, in despair
after the murderous rampage in which he killed several of his own
sons, consulted the Delphic Pythoness, she said that he had to
serve King Eurystheus for twelve years of labors in order to heal
the malignant consequences of his insane violence.
Another figure associated with divination and prophecy in
Greek mythology is Proteus, the shape-shifting son of the sea-
goddess Thetis. He lived by the sea-shore among the seals and
rocks, and could assume the shape of a lion, a tree, a spray of
water, a flame, a bird, or a gust of wind. If one could recognize
him and hold him in one of his quickly changing forms, one
could ask him a divinatory question. Proteus also appears in the
Odyssey: Telemachus, the son of Odysseus, in search of his father
lost after the Trojan war, learns from Menelaus who had questioned
Proteus, that Odysseus was alive but a captive. The figure of
Proteus is symbolic of the divinatory knowledge that can be
obtained by careful conscious observation of the elusive protean
transformations of Nature.
Among the Nordic-Germanic peoples, Freyja, the golden
haired goddess of erotic love and beauty, is the deity revered for
her seership abilities. Her priestesses, the volvas, went into ecstatic
trance states induced by chanting and perhaps certain plants, to
divine the fates and fortunes of the warriors, hunters, lovers and
farmers who consulted them. According to the Roman historian
Tacitus, the Germanic people believed that women in general
were more gifted with divinatory foresight, but men could also
develop that skill.

38
 Odin (or Udan, Wotan, or Woden) the Nordic god of war
riors, hunters, knowledge-seeking shamans and poets, also was
connected with divination. He invented the art of rune-casting,
of reading the symbolic patterns made by sticks thrown on the
ground. When hanging on the World Tree, he learned the songs
used to travel to different worlds and how to question the spirit
beings in these worlds. It was said he had two ravens, Hugin
(“Forethought”) and Mnnin (“Memory”) that flew around the
world daily, bringing him messages of past and future events.
Another key figure in the Nordic pantheon associated with
divination is Mimir, the giant who is the guardian spirit of the
World Tree, the Keeper of the Axis and of the Well of Memory
situated at the base of that axial tree. Whoever drank from that
well could remember and understand their history and the history
of their world — but you had to obtain permission from Mimir
and pay his price. The ever-questioning Odin sought to drink
from the Well of Remembrance, and paid the price ol one eye -
an indication of the high value placed on ancestral and historical
knowledge by the ancient Europeans. I have come to interpret
that story to mean that if we want to understand our past we have
to sincerely pay attention and pay respect to the guardian spirits of
the cycles of time.

* * *

39
40
 3
The Seven Phases of Divination Rituals

A question or interest arising in the mind provides the initial

impulse to engage in a divination. Although the process of asking
for and receiving intuitive knowledge can be done quickly and
spontaneously, when we wish to engage in a more formalized
practice of divination, it’s useful to distinguish seven phases: (1)
preparing the place and alignment with the spirits of the four
directions and the local spirits of place and time; (2) articulating
and clarifying the intention or question; (3) purifying the percep
tion channels with light-fire yoga and connecting to spiritual
intelligence; (4) invocation of spirit allies from the animal, plant,
fungal and mineral worlds; (3) invocation of spirits of ancestors,
elders, deities and our human relations; (6) the divination
procedure itself, which involves a double movement of posing a
question and receiving an answer in relation to the past, present
or future; and (7) the integration phase, in which the answers or
insights received are communicated and applied.
In the following, I will describe the seven phases in a general
way; and at the end I will provide suggestions for how each indi
vidual may apply them in their particular situation.

41
 (1) Preparing the place and alignment with local spirits.

While it is certainly possible to receive useful insights with a

quick and focused intuitive inquiry (“I asked myself...”), more
fruitful and consequential results are obtained when both the
external and internal environment are prepared with respectful
attention to detail. Because alchemical and shamanic divination
work has larger purposes beyond personal illumination and
transformation, we want to tune in with our human web of
relations and be in harmony with the local environment. Creating
a serene and aesthetically pleasing environment for the divination
ceremony is desirable. Some choose to set up a kind of circular
altar, with beautiful objects of nature or spiritual significance. In
neo-pagan magic circles, this process is sometimes referred to as
“casting the circle.” One could have the four elements symbolically
arranged: a candle or burning incense or sage for the element fire;
feathers for the air element; a bowl with water; and crystals or
greenery for the earth element.
Aligning with the spirits ofthefour directions. Calling upon
the spirits of the four directions, starting with the East and
going clockwise (or sun-wise - South, West and North), is a
way of localizing ourselves and becoming more conscious of
the particular place where we are on Earth. Indigenous cultures
and traditions around the world always begin their ceremonies
and meetings with prayers to the spirits of the four directions.
Naturally, the prayers spoken in different traditions and locales
will associate different elements, animals, colors and qualities to
the directions.
Honoring the spirits ofthe place. In ancient Roman culture,
each place and household had its protective spirit, the genius loci.

42
The particular forms and elemental forces of land and water of a
place, the plants, animals and humans that live in that place give
it a unique character that we need to honor and respect.
Harmonizing with the spirits ofthe cycles oftime. Just as
particular places are associated with spirits or deities, so are the
cycles of time. It makes a difference what phase of the day we do
our meditation divination: traditionally, evening twilight affords
an opening between the worlds, and nighttime in general is con
sidered better for clairvoyant “seeing” compared to daytime. As
our part of the Earth turns away from the Sun, awareness expands
into the cosmos and we see the stars we cannot see when we are
blinded by daytime sunlight. The phases of the lunar cycle and
the seasonal cycle of the year, with the four great cosmic gateways
of solstice and equinox, also profoundly affect the quality and
efficacy of the meditations and divinations.
In contrast to the spirits of animals and spirit guides (to be
described below), our relationship with the spirits of the four
directions, of place and time, are not personal: we do not seek their
aid and counsel for our projects. Rather we align and harmonize
with them in order to humbly adapt to the circumstances in
which we find ourselves. In my Invocations booklet I offer two
versions of a four-directions prayer, as well as invocations of
the spirits of place and time, that you can adapt to local and
particular circumstances and conditions.

(2) Articulating and clarifying the intention or question.

All divination practices involve a process of seeking answers

to a question, or focusing an intention. Intentionality (which
includes the concepts of interest, will, wish, or desire) is in many

43
 ways a key to the understanding of any state of consciousness,
including the consciousness of the reading, and the writing, of
this book. We are always “conscious of” something. Intention, or
“interest” as William James phrased it, controls the selective func
tion of attention, which in turn determines what it is we perceive
with awareness. If our attention and therefore perception is not
guided by our conscious intention or interest, then it may be
captured, or captivated, by whatever attractive, intense, insistent
or prominent stimulus patterns present themselves to our senses.
Asking a question, as we have seen, is the basic gesture
of receptivity and thus also a way of selectively focusing our
attention. Intention and question are two equivalent and
alternative ways of guiding our attention and perception, in
both ordinary and non-ordinary states of consciousness. There
is a dynamic (yang) and receptive (yin) polarity here: intending
is more focused, directional, searching; and asking is more open,
receptive, gathering. We can formulate the starting point of a
divination in either way. In a divination for healing the past, I can
say, “I want to (or intend to) heal this wound or this relationship”
or I could ask, “How can I heal this wound or relationship?” In a
divination for envisioning the future, I can say, “I want to create
or build this project” or I can ask, “How can I create or build this
project?” Thus, the core formula is the following:

intention
or attention awareness
question

These two ways of deploying attention may be compared

to the two ancient modes of hunting and gathering, intending is
like the stalking and tracking of the hunter, whereas asking (or

44
questing) is like the browsing and collecting of the gatherer. The
hunter’s arrow is narrowly aimed at the target, whether it be a
memory or a vision; the gatherer’s basket (or fisherman’s net) is
wide-angled and open to perceive information, whether from the
past or the future.
The technological metaphors we can use to compare the two
modes of searching are the telescope and the antenna. As with a
telescope, we focus narrowly with intention and thereby magnify
and amplify the perception of the target. As with an antenna
system, when holding a question we orient the receiving dish (of
attention) towards a wide range of situations, to maximize our
chances of perceiving information relevant to our quest.
We may also think of these two modes as analogous to vectors
and attractors in mathematics. A vector (also called vector-field) is
a quantity defined not only by magnitude, but by direction, and
is usually represented symbolically by an arrow. (The analogy is
even closer in medicine, where a vector is an organism that carries
a pathogen from one host to another - like intention carries our
perception from one realm to another). A mathematical analogy
to the receptive, collective function of questions might by the
notion of attractors, which are organizing centers or basins in the
evolution of a dynamical system. An example would be the trajec
tory of a marble rolling down and around inside an inverted cone.
To summarize, we may say that the internal preparation
for a divinatory inquiry begins by clarifying one’s intention or
question. It is usually best to focus on one issue or question at
a time. Relevant additional questions can be asked during the
individual divination process, during the integration phase or in a
subsequent divination on the same topic.

45
 (3) Purifying perception by light-fire yoga and connecting to
spiritual intelligence.

Around this point in the preparation for a divination

ceremony, we begin the process of clarifying and purifying of the
channels of perception and the invocation of spirit guides and
allies. In practice, these elements may occur simultaneously and
close together. We magnify awareness of the Higher or Knowing
Self, the Inner Teacher, the Being of Light that each one actu
ally is, opening ourselves inwardly to spiritual intelligence and
guidance. We are using concepts and words here to point to that
which is beyond concepts and words. Each person needs to find
their own way to the still heart-center of awareness, light and
wisdom.
In the next chapter, I will describe in more detail the yogic
alchemical light-fire meditation practice known as “purification
of the nadis” or “transmutation of the elements.” While some
practitioners may choose to do the invocation prayers to allied
spirits right at the beginning, after invoking the spirits of the four
directions and the place and time, doing the light-fire purification
at this point has the benefit of heightening our perception of the
spirits with which we are connecting.

(4) Invoking spirit allies from the animal plant, fungal and
,

mineral world.

Variously called “power animals,” “spirit animals,” or totem

animals (when associated with a whole clan), animal spirits have
been the allies, guides and teachers of shamans since the most
ancient hunter-gatherer and Stone Age times. We are speaking
here of invoking, not so much a particular animal that we love,

46
such as a pet dog or cat (although they could be included in the
invocation), but rather the spirit or deity of a wild animal species
- of Buffalo or Wolf, not this or that particular buffalo or wolf.
The “wild” being is the “self-willed” and sovereign, not subjected
to domestication. In cultivating our connection and friendship
with animal spirits we are connected to our own wild and indig
enous evolutionary heritage on planet Earth.
Animals, as Arthur Young has said, are Nature’s great
experiments in movement, on land, sea and air. So we find that
animal allies can help us when we need to learn to move, whether
physically with more flexibility, or emotionally and mentally out
of fixed positions and reaction patterns. I recommend that in the
course of shamanic and alchemical practice, you seek to develop a
relationship with an ally from each of the main classes of animals,
the mammals of land and sea, the reptiles, amphibians, birds and
insects — each are specialist teachers of evolutionary strategy and
ecological adaptation.
Invoking plant andfungal helper spirits. Whereas animals are
humankind’s most direct evolutionary ancestors and relatives,
plants and fungi are the two other kingdoms (or kin-doms, as
some prefer to say) of multi-cellular life on this planet. Great webs
of symbiotic interdependence and mutuality link the animal,
plant and fungal realms. Animals breathe in the oxygen the plants
exhale and plants absorb the carbon dioxide the animals exhale
in the great dance of atmosphere and biosphere. Plants grow and
produce the food that nourishes the animals; mammals, birds
and insects eat and transport the packages of seeds and pollen,
enabling plants to propagate; fungi decompose and recycle
dead plant and animal matter, nourishing the roots of trees and
extending their vast, subterranean mycelial net. In connecting

47
 with spirits of plant and fungal life, we honor the nourishment,
the medicines and the inspiration of beauty we receive from these
realms.
For shamanic and alchemical practitioners the spirits of the
psychoactive, perception-amplifying, entheogenic plants and
fungi are of particular interest, and should be especially invoked
when the divination practice involves the use of such media.
From them, and the substances derived from them, we can learn
the lessons of growth and interconnection, of extending and
nourishing our relationships with humans and more-than-human
beings and life-forms in the multiple worlds of life.
Invoking spirits ofthe mineral and elemental realms. Science
recognizes carbon-based life-forms at the level of protista and
microbes, but draws the distinction to non-life at the mineral
realm. Indigenous shamanic traditions and their mythologies, as
well as hermetic and esoteric teachings, recognize the living spirit
intelligence in the inorganic realms as well. This is the realm that
affords the material substrate and foundation for evolving life,
and for the human constructed environment. Mineral elements
provide sources of food and medicines to humans, crystals
amplify perception and communication, and precious stones
inspire our sense of beauty. Metallic minerals are the source of
all of our technologies and all the instruments of knowledge and
science, of art and culture, and of destruction and warfare.
In the shamanic and alchemical traditions the spirits of stone
and earth, called gnomes or dwarves in Nordic mythology, are
not regarded as compassionate guides or personal “familiars” the
way animal and plant spirits can be. However, the spirits of earth-
stone, as well as of the other elements of water, air and fire, are
recognized and respected for their autonomy and power, and one
48
can tune in with them and learn from them. We can and should
learn to be more conscious and considerate of the deep and com
plex interconnections we as humans have with this realm.

(5) Invoking the spirits of ancestors and human relations, as

well as elders, spirit guides and deities.

Maintaining and cultivating the connections with the spirits

of deceased ancestors is probably the single most significant feature
that distinguishes the shamanic indigenous worldview from the
modern. Dying does not mean ceasing to exist, but rather a
transformation of the souls vehicle. I have sat in many native
ceremonies and listened to the elders invoke the spirits of the
ancestors, asking for their blessings, as naturally and obviously as
we would ask for our elders’ blessings when still alive. After my
son passed prematurely into the spirit world, and when working
with others who have “lost” (a strange and misleading phrase)
a loved one, I have come to appreciate that connecting and
reconciling with deceased ancestors and family members can have
a hugely healing impact.
As we care for our children and grandchildren and want the
best for them and to guide them in their lifeways, so our ancestors
(alive and dead) are those who care for us and represent our
back-up team in dealing with life’s challenges. But our ancestors
in the spirit world cannot connect with us if we are not receptive,
or have derogatory and judgmental attitudes towards them, much
less if we believe they don’t exist. So we invoke them with simple,
basic gratitude and respect for the thread of life we have received
from them.

49
 Connecting with our genetic ancestors naturally leads us to
also invoke all our other human relations. The relatives of family,
clan and ethnicity are those with whom our lives are interwoven
by virtue of birth. These are the relations established in our
formative years that may often be the focus of our divination
inquiries, as we seek to heal dysfunctional patterns forged in the
crucible of family life. In addition, there are the human relations
of “elective affinity,” of romantic, erotic love and partnership, of
friendship and collegiality, of cooperation and community. Each
one of us lives in an open-ended web of human relations, of
mutuality and exchange. The boundary of our network of human
relations is given by the name: although we can and should
encounter all human beings with egalitarian respect, our relatives
are those we know by name and who call us by name, and with
whom our lives are interwoven in multiple ways.
Similarly, we invoke with gratitude the blessings of our
spiritual ancestors and human elders, mentors, teachers and
guides, whose life-wisdom has inspired and continues to inspire
us. Some of these spiritual ancestors and teachers may be known
to thousands or millions - Buddhists would invoke Gautama
Buddha and their Buddhist teachers and gurus, Christians call
upon Jesus of Nazareth, Mother Mary and whatever saints and
wise ones they’re connected with. Others of our human elders
and mentors may be known to only a few — what counts is the
spiritual connection we have with them. We may also invoke
human-like spirit guides that we’ve connected with, that we know
only through inner meditative experience, and not in the time/
space world of historical reality.
Also in this phase of preparation for the divination we call
upon the deities and divinities with whom we have, or wish

50
to have, a guiding, counseling, inspiring relationship. In the
polytheistic animistic worldview of indigenous peoples, and of
our own ancestors in ancient times, the beings called “gods” and
“goddesses” are regarded as really existing, in the same way that
deceased human ancestors really exist — in a different but not
separate world.
Many individuals in our time have come to develop and
cultivate a spiritual relationship with one or another of the
deities known in European, Asian, African or Native American
mythology. As part of the feminist spiritual renaissance in our
time, many women (and men) have occupied themselves with
images of the Goddess, whether as Isis or Shakti or Kwan Yin or
any of Her countless forms, inspiring their artistic, creative and
spiritual practice. I have myself, ever since the writing of The Well
ofRemembrance, had a teaching and counseling relationship with
Odin, the knowledge-seeking Nordic god of shamans and poets.
In one way, the gods and goddesses can be thought of as
the ancestors, spirit guides and teachers of a whole people, or
culture, or religious community. Their visual appearance, in our
visions and meditations (and recorded in the religious mythic art
of all cultures) is human-like though greater, and may at times
(as in Egyptian and Old European myth) have blended features
of animals. Like our deceased human ancestors, they exist in the
higher-frequency dimensions beyond our human time/space
world, where we may communicate with them in our dreams,
shamanic journeys and divinations.
However, the deities are different from our deceased human
ancestors in that they do not have a history of coming from a
recent human incarnation - although perhaps, if the myths and
legends are to be believed, in ancient times gods walked among

51
 humans much more openly and frequently. Esoteric teachings in
the Western tradition speak of “ascended masters” - beings that
have completed their evolutionary learning cycles on Earth, but
continue to teach and guide us from the intermediate, higher-
frequency planes. In the Buddhist tradition, the beings called
bodhisattvas have a similar function — having completed their
personal incarnational cycles, they return to human life intentionally
and compassionately, to teach and to guide.
The multiple dimensions of planet Earth and the cosmos
beyond are teeming with supra-dimensional spirit beings, gods
and goddesses of inconceivable diversity, brilliance and power.
How could it be otherwise, knowing what we now know about
the vastness and diversity of stars and planets in the Universe? In
our time, as our civilization is confronted by global challenges of
unprecedented difficulty and urgency, the ancient legends of dei
ties walking among and communicating with humans on Earth,
have taken on a new life: thousands (perhaps millions) of indi
viduals on all continents have reported sightings of space-ships
(called UFOs), obviously not from our world, cruising peacefully
through our skies. Thousands (perhaps millions) of others have
reported contact and communication with alien beings (called
ETs) from star-systems and planets beyond Earth. Some of these
contacts have involved actual meetings and interactions in the
time/space physical dimension, while with others the contact
and communication has been on the intermediate dimensions, in
dreams, visions or meditative states of consciousness.
When, in the practice of divination, we encounter such god
like beings from another world, we should relate to them as we
do with any other autonomous being, human or non-human, in
the space/time world or beyond - with equanimity, respect and

52
compassion. Remaining centered with light-fire awareness, we can
most clearly enter into an exchange that will be relevant to our
intentions and questions, and avoid entanglement with beings,
whether earthly or extra-terrestrial, who have a manipulative or
exploitative agenda.
Again, in the Invocations booklet there are suggested phrases
for calling all the different kinds of spirits, but I would emphasize
that these invocations are not a matter of required belief. Each
individual will develop relationships with particular guiding
and helping spirits in the course of their shamanic and spiritual
practice, and find a way of calling upon them when engaging
in divination work. The process is not unlike calling upon your
friends and advisors when engaging in any complex endeavor.

(6) The four-fold divination cycle.

In the simplest terms the actual divination process is a

two-fold rhythm of asking a question and receiving an answer.
Breaking this down further, after stating the question or
intention, we have a four-fold sequence as follows: (1) selectively
focusing attention; (2) perceiving a target image or receiving an
answer; (3) apperception of context or reflecting on meaning;
and (4) integration through expressing and communicating what
was perceived. Let us take an example of a memory and a vision
divination to elucidate these four phases.
Someone wishes to heal or resolve a painful charge around
a past event or relationship situation. The originating question
might be: “How can I heal or resolve this difficulty?” The feeling
serves as the “affect bridge,” as some call it, for tracking to the
past event constellation when the painful feeling started. That’s

53
 the target memory. However, just re-experiencing past painful
or traumatic event is not sufficient for healing. The third phase
is unraveling the complex of thoughts, images, feelings and
sensations involved in the situation, apperceiving the context,
understanding the reasons and causes of why things happened
the way they did. The fourth phase is the phase of re-membering,
in which the dis-membered, disconnected complex is integrated
into an expanded present sense of self. A traumatic experience is
healed when the person can say, “That experience is part of my

Four-Fold Cycle of Perceptual Divination

Note: The Target may be in the past (memory),

future (vision), or non-local present (remote viewing);
or internal perception of a symbolic image.

54
history, it affected me deeply and shaped who I am, but now 1
can focus on living my life and my future.” No longer does one
need to anxiously nurse the wounds of the past, have dissociative
flashbacks or nightmares, or compulsively repeat self-destructive
behaviors simulating the original painful event.
Let us now consider a future visioning, e.g. the situation
of a young person, artistically inclined, searching for a way to
express their creativity and earn a living sufficient to support a
family. That’s the originating intention or question (first phase).
In the divinatory meditation, looking a few years ahead along
the probability time lines (second phase), she perhaps sees herself
traveling in Asia, looking at and collecting colorful textiles and art
objects. That’s the target vision. Recognizing it as an answer to her
question, she begins to enthusiastically consider the possibilities
of establishing a business importing such objects into her home
community. That’s the third phase, the returning movement to
the present, which then merges into the fourth phase, where the
vision is realized and consolidated into concrete plans.

(7) The integration phase.

Each divinatory meditation takes the seeker out of their

present time/space world into conscious perception of past or
probable future events. Therefore each such divination needs
to end with a conscious integrative return, which then involves
an expansion and deepening of the seeker’s present world and
identity. The person who has healed the residual effects of a pain
ful past experience by re-membering it, not denying it and not
subject to involuntary flashbacks or repetition compulsions, has
a deepened understanding that can be used to help heal others.

55
 The person who has had a vision of their life’s work and begins
to practice and to train to bring it to realization, has an expanded
sense of their own identity in a condition of becoming. Think,
for example, of a young person who can affirm to himself and to
others, “I’m going to be a doctor.”
The integration process has many different layers and aspects
and can be structured according to the individuals inclinations.
One returns to focus fully in the present body-sense and awareness
of where and how the body is touching the ground, opening the
eyes and re-orienting oneself. Expressing gratitude (silently or out
loud) to the spirit allies and teachers that have guided the divina
tion serves to strengthen the relationship for future collaborations.
An obvious and essential step in earthing and grounding
is to give verbal expression to the insights received: whether as a
spoken communication to another, or written in a journal. As in
dream work, there is a necessary process of translation involved, as
the inchoate impressions received are structured into descriptive
statements.
Pictorial expression through drawing or painting can also serve
to earthe the healings and visions into time/space reality so they
can be shared with others. This mode can be used by anyone but
may appeal especially to those with highly developed spatial intel
ligence and some developed artistic talent.
Vocal expression, not through words but through toning,
chanting or singing, is often the best way to earthe and com
municate those insights and visions that come as formless waves
of feelings, and may be the preferred integrative expression for
those with musical intelligence and aptitude.

56
 Expression through movement, with gesture and dance, is
another powerful modality of earthing and grounding, especially
valuable when the healing of past wounds has involved opening
and releasing restrictive armorings in the physical body, and for
those who often receive impressions through bodily sentience.
The ultimate integration of healings and visions received is the
application in life - in our work, our personal relationships, our
creative expression and our ongoing spiritual practices. Healing
the wounds of our own past experience empowers us to help
others. Resolving the attachments of addictions and compulsions
and releasing the entanglements of destructive relationships liber
ates psychic energy for our future tasks and the soul’s mission.
Connecting with a vision and the possibilities of its realization
provides a greater sense of meaning and passionate commitment.
As the great Sioux medicine man Black Elk said, “A man or a woman
who has had a vision is only able to use the power of that vision when
they speak it and show it for all the world to see and hear.”

Suggestions for Divination Practice

Preparations. Think about the setting you might prepare for

doing meditative divination work. Some people have a room or
space set up for meditation. Consider setting up an altar to signify
the four directions and four elements. What images and symbols
would you place on your altar?
Intentions and questions. Think about and formulate some
questions for your divination practice - diagnostic and healing

57
 questions related to the past, vision and purpose questions related
to future possibilities and probabilities. Try formulating questions
as intentions and intentions as questions, both for the past and
the future. Can you feel the different attitude behind statements
like “I want to...” and questions like “How can I...?”
Invocations. Identify the spirit allies from the Nature, such
as power animals and plant teachers, that you have already
established a relationship with and those that you would like
to develop a relationship with — which could itself become the
agenda of a divination. Similarly, review what ancestors, elders,
spiritual teachers and deities you already have a connection with,
and which you would like to develop further. Plan to include
them in your divination practice. You can use the poetic invocations
from my booklet Invocations, as suggested phrases. However,
rather than reading from a text, which can become formulaic,
it is best to use simple and direct terminology, from your heart
and from memory, to address the spirits with whom you have
developed a meaningful relationship.
Integrative practices. You probably know what modalities of
expressing your creative urges come most naturally to you, and
those would be valuable skills to apply in the integrative phase of
divinations. It’s also useful sometimes to try those modes that are
less familiar to you, ones in which you believe you have no talent
or ability. When you are seeking to express something new and
unfamiliar in your experience, a new modality of expression may
“work” better than a familiar one. This is the same principle as is
involved in practicing drawing with your non-dominant hand.

* * *

58
 4
Alchemical Light-Fire Yoga

According to the worldview of science, human beings live

within a vast, complex web of interdependent energy relationships
with all life forms and environments on planet Earth and beyond.
Einstein’s equation E - me2 tells us that, within the relativistic
framework of our time-space world, matter and energy are
convertible one into the other. In other words, the basic processes
of the universe manifest either as free light-radiation or as light
bound into material form. All forms of matter, from atoms
and cells, to plants, animals and humans, to planets, stars and
galaxies, are complex aggregates of vibratory energy systems, that
are unceasingly involved in energy transformations, and in the
reception and transmission of energies to and from other energy
systems, both macrocosmic and microcosmic.
Taking into account the primordial teachings of shamanism,
yoga and alchemy, as well as Eastern and Western esoteric tradi
tions, we can extend this worldview to recognize that humans are
in essence multi-dimensional spiritual beings, living in a multi
dimensional universe. The hermetic axiom “as above, so below”
encapsulates the resonating correspondence of the human micro
cosm with the macrocosmic universe. The different dimensions of
our being, and of the Earth and cosmos, differ from one another
in vibratory rate, like the notes of a musical scale or chord, with

55?
 che physical or material body being the lowest frequency or
densest. This analogy explains why and how the subtle bodies
co-exist and coincide within the same time-space framework
— though our awareness of the higher-frequency dimensions ot
beingness is limited by conditioning factors. As the Sufis say, we
human beings live in a many-storied mansion, but have occupied
only the ground floor for so long, we have forgotten even the
existence of the higher realms.
In the Indian yoga teachings the different bodies are referred
to as “form-sheaths” (maya-kosha) and the physical body is the
form-sheath made of food (annd'maya-kosha). In the European
alchemical writings the physical body and material level of
reality is the prima materia, the starting point of the work (opus)
of transformation. “Above” the physical time-space body in
frequency-rate, are the intermediate bodies (perceptual, emotional
and mental) constituting the personality systems, which are, like
the physical, subject to dualistic conditioning factors of good-bad,
true-false, pleasure-pain.
“Above” the mental (in frequency, not space) are the unob
structed, unconditioned, transpersonal dimensions of soul essence
and Spirit. At these levels there are differences, like different
colors in nature, or different notes in music, but no antagonisms
or conflicts. The soul level of consciousness, in the yogic writings,
is called the “form-sheath of joy” (ananda-maya-kosha). Immortal
souls, whether embodied in the time-space world or not, live in
unobstructed joyful exchange of unconditional love with one
another and with the macrocosmic Mother-Father Creator.
Here are che ancient ancestors, through whom everything is brought
to fulfillment. If it is rooted in the Earth, this is an integrative power.
You must learn to separate, in awareness, the solid earth elements and
the fiery spirit energies, the dense and the subtle. You must practice this

60
 art gently and with great ingenuity. There is an ascending from Earth
to Heaven, and a descending from Heaven to Earth, and therefore a
blending of the higher and the lower. By this means you shall have the
glory of the whole world, and profoundly clear understanding, (from
the Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistos)

The personality systems of human beings function as step-

down transformers of the high-frequency energies flowing down
from the unobstructed spiritual worlds within, bringing them
down and through into the time-space world, for here-now
expression. The alchemists referred to this aspect of their work
as first the separating and then the “marrying” of the subtle and
the dense. With the practice of alchemical purification human
beings can also learn to function as step-up transformers, raising
the vibratory rate of their physical bodies, or earth-level energy
systems, using purifying fire. This is the work the alchemists
called the transmutation of “heavy metal or lead” (conditioned,
obstructed form) into “gold” (purified, illumined form).
In yoga, this aspect of the work is referred to as the purifica
tion of the nadis - the energy-field lines or channels of the human
body and energy-field. The purification operation enables high-
frequency light-fire energy to come through from Spirit, via the
energy-centers and essence—fields and be distributed throughout
the physical earth body and environment.. Take a moment now
to start practicing the alchemical light-fire yoga.
Initiate the purificatio operatio?i by visualizing or sensing the
light-fire energy sun igniting in your heart-center and expanding
from there spherically throughout the chest, torso and surrounding
energy-field.

61
 Balancing the dynamic and receptive poles of the energy-field

The energy-field, sometimes referred to as an aura, not only

surrounds but interpenetrates the physical body at every level
— organic, cellular, molecular, atomic and sub-atomic. It can
be thought of as a polarized electro-magnetic antenna system,
receiving and transmitting energies of diverse vibrational frequen
cies in the multiple worlds of reality and consciousness. As Albert
Hofmann has written,
“What we call reality is the product of a reciprocal interaction be
tween material and energetic signals being emitted from the external
world and the conscious living self in the inner world of the human
being." (Albert Hofmann Insight/Outlook)

The left side of the human body-and-energy-field is the focus

of receptive, yin, magnetic, in-coming energy-flows; the right side
is the focus of dynamic, yang, expressive, out-going energy-flows.
At the personality levels, these poles correspond in a general way
to male and female - but it should be understood that this refers
to basic energetic polarity, common to men and women, and not
to socio-cultural images of “masculine” and “feminine.”
The dynamic-receptive polarization of the energy-field is also
apparent in the difference between front and back. The front part
of the body and field is dynamic — we move forward into the
space and world in front of us, as we walk on the pathways into
the future. The back part of the body and field is polarized and
experienced as receptive — we tend to carry the loads of our obliga
tions on our shoulders, as we come from the places of our past. The
receptivity of the back is also reflected in colloquialisms such as
being stabbed in the back by betrayal or getting a pain in the neck
(or further down the spine) from someone’s malicious slander.

62
 Alchemical coniunctio Shiva Ardhanarisvara
from the Rosarium Philosophorum (16th C.)

In the alchemical literature, we find the left-right, dynamic-

receptive polarization consistently symbolized in images of the
“king,” with the sun beneath his feet, standing on the right, and the
“queen,” with the moon beneath her feet, standing on the left. In
the iconography of Indian tantra yoga, a beautiful image symbolic
of this polarity is the hermaphroditic Shiva Ardhanarisvara (“two-
in-one form”), male on the right side, female on the left. The
balancing and integration of the dynamic and receptive poles of
the multi-dimensional human energy-systems into an androgynous
wholeness is the central alchemical operation o$ coniunctio, or
“inner marriage.” The coniunctio is a complex, multi-faceted process
involving many aspects and stages. At the level of the human body
and energy-field, the operation of dissolving (solutio) the separative
and distorting overlays and defensive armorings by the yogic light-
fire (purificatio) contributes to this integration and balance.

63
 The dynamic-receptive polarization can also be recognized
at the intermediate or personality dimensions of perception,
emotion and mind. At the physiological level of the nervous
system we have afferent and efferent nerve fibers carrying two-way
messages between the brain and the periphery of the body. In
the visual modality, the difference between the purely receptive
“seeing” and the more dynamic “looking” is suggestive of this
polarity; in auditory perception, “hearing” and “listening” are
similarly polarized.
As the perceptual antennae of the energy-field are purified,
the innate capacity to pick up vibratory frequencies, from the
environment and from others, called sentience, becomes clair-
sentience, “clear sensing.” Similarly, clarification and amplification
of the distance senses and concomitant perception of subtler
frequencies occurs as seeing becomes clairvoyance and hearing
clairaudience.
In the psycho-physiological subtle energy conceptions of tantra
yoga, the dynamic-receptive polarization is expressed in the symbol
ism of the two serpentine channels coiling around the central axis
or staff, known as the sushumna. The left-sided serpent channel is
called ida, carries cool, silver and white energy, and is associated
with the moon, night-time, digestion and relaxation - in Western
terms, vagus nerve and parasympathetic functions. The right-sided
serpent channel is called pingala, carries warm, copper-colored and
red-gold energy, and is associated with the sun, day-time, move
ment and energetic activity - in Western terms, the adrenaline and
sympathetic functions. In the classic meditative posture, as seen in
the iconic image of the sitting Buddha with hands folded, the two
channels are in calm and centered balance.

64
 At the level of emotions and feelings, the acceptance and
reception of emotion is focussed physically in the left side of the
chest and heart, where we “take things to heart;” and the dynamic
expression and projection of emotional tone and life-force is
focussed on the right side of the chest and the liver. When in
the course of the light-fire meditations, one observes less flow of
energy, more darkness and obstruction on the left side, this can be
seen to reflect armoring blocks and barriers to emotional receptivity.
When the right side of the chest and body feels heavier and
darker, this reflects a blocked emotional dynamic and expressive
capacity. In this way, perceiving the flows and stoppages of
energies in the field serves as a diagnostic: one can then focus
the purifying light-fire more in the blocked areas, and thereby
increase our capacity to clearly receive and express the emotional
waves and currents of our lighted beingness.
We can readily identify a similar polarity at the mental level
of consciousness: we receive thought-forms, either mediated
through words and images, or directly - from others (as in mental
telepathy) or from within (intuition). We also transmit, express
and project thought forms, either indirectly through language
and symbols, or directly through mind-to-mind communication.
My teacher Russell Schofield used to emphasize that “telepathy
is a fact”- the direct transmission and reception of thoughts and
feelings between individuals occurs whether we are conscious of
it or not. When we think of someone, we are in effect sending a
thought-form, a mental energy-packet to that person. Conversely,
what makes us unexpectedly think of someone, if not their mind
energy directed towards us?

65
 However, in the ordinary conditions of human existence, the
conscious reception and transmission of feelings and thoughts is
blocked by overlays of distorting illusory images and conditioned
belief systems. The reduction and dissolving of such blockages
and consequent enhancement of telepathic mind-to-mind com
munication occurs in some individuals by congenital capacity; it
may occur in temporary psychedelic states of expanded awareness;
and it can develop as a consequence of meditative practice — and
in particular the alchemical operations of soIntio and purificntio.
When we are communicating with spirit beings, whether in
dreams, visions or meditations, the communication is usually
direct, telepathic mind-to-mind; though sometimes, especially
with our human relatives, it may be as if we are hearing a voice in
our head. We may receive (and transmit) images, feelings and sen
sations, as well as just direct intuitive knowing, in such exchanges.
Practicing direct mind-to-mind communication, both receiv
ing and transmitting, with spirit beings of animal species and
human spirit-guides from other cultures and times, is good and
essential preparation for the coming era of widespread human
contact and communication with highly evolved ET spirit-beings
from other dimensions, and from other civilizations in our galaxy
and beyond.
To summarize - through the operation or practice of purify
ing the structures and energy-field of the body with light-fire,
we dissolve conditioned blockages and distorting overlays, and
thereby bring about increasing balance and integration of the
dynamic-receptive polarity at every level.
Continue the purificatio operation by intentionallyfocussing the
fire to dissolve the blockages to free energyfloiv on the left and
right sides ofyour body, as well as thefront and back.
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Balancing the three chambers with their energy-centers

The central vertical axis is the axis separating the two poles
of the energy field and it is also the axis where the energy-centers
(called chakras in yoga) are aligned. It is through the axis and the
centers that cosmic, spiritual high-frequency life-force energy
comes “down” and is distributed through and into the earth-level
body and energy-field. The fire aspect of the energy purifies and
the light aspect clarifies and nourishes the structures of the body
and field. In the symbolism of Eastern and Western mythologies,
including the Biblical, this central channel is the “tree of life” and
axis of our life-world {axis mnndi). In the course of alchemical
yogic practice the central axis grows in strength and brightness
from a thin line to a vibrant cylindrical energy channel about a
hand’s breadth in size.
The body and energy-field are grouped into three
o
major segments, so that we have a three-chambered
vessel or alchemical furnace, each with three or four of
the energy-centers. What we call the Upper Chamber
includes the throat-center, mid-brain center, crown
center and the star-center, located a hand’s breadth
above the top of the head. The middle chamber,
extending from the throat down to the diaphragm, we
call the Cave ofthe Heart-, it includes the thymus center,
the heart-center and the solar plexus center, located at
the tip of the sternum. The lower chamber, constituted
by the abdominal-pelvic cavity, we call (using the
Chinese Taoist terminology) the Cauldron: it comprises
the “secret heart” or organizational center, located just above the
navel; the navel center; the abdominal center; and the generative
or root center, located at the perineum.
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 Further and more detailed information on the energy-centers,
as well as associations with the three parts of the energy-field are
described in the Appendix.
We can also consider the three cavities or essence-fields of the
alchemical furnace as a combination of three resonant chambers,
each with its own characteristic quality of vibration or tone. The
three chambers then are like three musical instruments — say a
cello, a viola and a violin — each stacked upon one another, each
with its characteristic timbre and tone. Or rather , since the
thoracic cavity expands and contracts with the breath, the analogy
of bag-pipes might be more accurate. The central axis is then also
called the “inner flute,” carrying the vibrations of the three cham
bers to the throat and vocal cords for expression in sound. When
we work with the practices of
toning (called nada yoga), then
the work of integrating and
balancing the three essence-fields
becomes one of harmonizing
the fundamental tones or OM
sounds of the three chambers.
The Upper Chamber is the
primary field for knowing
awareness and perception, the
verbal (digital) and imaginal
(analog) mentation associated
with the left and right brain
hemisphere respectively. Neuro-
anatomically, this mode of
awareness is embodied in the
Three-layer alchemical vessel
from a 17th C. text by Andreas Libavius brain and central nervous system

68
(CNS), with its afferent and efferent sensory nerves. In terms of
Paul McLean’s evolutionary three-layered brain model, this part
of the alchemical vessel-field relates particularly to the cerebral
cortex of the brain, which developed in the higher mammals,
primates and humans. As the upper chamber essence-field is puri
fied by the light-fire, the mental and imaginal modes of knowing
and perception are clarified and sensitized.
The Cave ofthe Heart essence-field is primarily associated
with emotional or feeling-awareness, both receptive and expres
sive. In terms of Western anatomical conceptions, this mode of
awareness is grounded in the autonomic (or vegetative) nervous
system, with its sympathetic (activating) and parasympathetic
(relaxing) branches. In terms of McLean’s three-brain model, this
corresponds to the middle, limbic brain system he calls mam
malian. Along with this limbic brain system, humans share with
our mammal relatives the capacity for the primary emotions of
fear (flight), rage (fight), parental caring
love and affiliative group bonding. As
the heart essence-field is purified by
the light-fire, the mammalian limbic
brain emotional reactions of fear-flight
and rage-fight are raised in vibratory
frequency to merge with knowing under
standing and spiritual intelligence.
The Cauldron essence-field is primarily
associated with “gut level,” instinctual
knowing and sensing-awareness. It is
embodied anatomically in the sacral ' The Buddhist aupa, with three '

plexus and enteric nervous system, the 100 segments on a cubiform base,
also represents the human energy
million network of neurons lining the system, seated on the earth.

69
 inside and outside of the intestines. This corresponds in evolu
tionary terms to the brain-stem, the oldest layer of the brain, that
we share with our reptilian ancestors. Reptilian awareness is non-
symbolic, non-emotional, but involves deep, primal sensing and
ritualized expression of sexual, aggressive and territorial impulses.
As this essence-field becomes purified by the light-fire, the ancient
reptilian mode of experiencing and relating is raised in vibratory
frequency to harmonize with and energize the emotional, mental
and spiritual modes.
In the Indian Tantra yoga teachings best known in the
West (which were based largely on 19th century translations of
tantric texts by scholars), the main emphasis was on “raising” the
serpentine energy, known as kundalini, of the pelvic cauldron root
chakra up to the head and crown chakra, for the purpose of tran
scending the physical body. In the Chinese Taoist yoga teachings,
the light-energy is circulated down the front of the body and up
the back over the top of the head. In the Agni Yoga practices that
I learned in the Actualism School, the initial practices focused
on bringing the higher-frequency light-fire energy from the star-
center (above the head) down and throughout the body for the
purposes of purifying the earth elements.
In the integrative alchemical yoga we use in conjunction with
the divinations, we start in the Cave of the Heart, and spread the
purifying light-fire from there both downward and upward, as
well as left and right, front and back, throughout the body and
energy-field.

70
Focus, with intention, the purifying light-fire ofyour heart-sun to
where you find obstructions or blockages — to balance, integrate
and harmonize the energy-flow throughout the three chambers or
essence-fields.

Transmutation of the Elements in the Cave of the Heart

This alchemical meditation is the starting and ending point

for all the divinations. It is the place from which we navigate
through realms of consciousness, as well as the place in which we
process and integrate the findings of the divinations. This operation
could also be called purification ofthe elements, raising them
to high-frequency vibration and dissolving the super-imposed
distorting blockages to the flow of life-energy. Through symbolic
resonance, the element Air corresponds to breath, mind and the
thinking function; the element Water to all bodily fluids, blood,
lymph, hormones and the feeling function; the element Fire to
bio-electric energies, sensory nerves, perception and intuition;
the element Earth to the physical flesh and bones and the sense
of touch. Thus, by purifying and transmuting the “elements” we
are simultaneously purifying and transmuting the intermediate or
personality dimensions of our beingness.

71
 You can practice the alchemical yoga of fire operation described
on the next page to prepare for a specific problem-solving divina
tion process; or you can also use it as a stand-alone meditation
that helps to bring about a state of centered and balanced
beingness. The iconic image of Shiva, the spirit deity of yogic
transformation, dancing in a ring of fire, can be our inspiration as
he demonstrates
working with the fires of purification, and tramples on the dwarf
like conditioning factors that limit our divine potentials.

Shiva dancing in a ring of fire.

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 Sit with Legs uncrossed, feet on ground\ eyes closed', or 3/4
closed.
Focus awareness in the center ofyour heart-field. Become
aware ofthe central vertical axis (CVA). Experience the CVA
going through your entire body, from above your head, through
the three chambers or essence-fields, to below yourfeet.
Let aivareness or sensing expand sphericallyfrom the heart
center. Touch into, with sentience, all the earth elements (bones,
muscles, blood vessels, etc).
Let the breath expand sphericallyfrom your heart center,
moving as refreshing wind throughout your body.
Let empathy or compassion, as the naturalfeeling tone ofyour
heart center, flow outward in all directions. Tfte fluid healing
feeling embraces all parts ofyour body and all parts ofyour being.
Ignite the Heart-Sun and let itsfire radiate outward
spherically, purifying all internal and external perception chan
nels and energy-field lines.
Let this combined awareness-breath-empathy-fire process
expand to include all three chambers ofthe body and etiergy-field,
extending 10 to 20 feet in all directions. Focus the process in each
ofthe six directions ofyour energy-field, with its three axes
(up-doivn, left-right, front-back). You are thereby clarifying,
purifying andfortifying the receiver and transmitter capabilities
ofthis field.
Conclude the practice by returning to full, here-now aware
ness, pressing down with your hands on your legs, and pressing
down with yourfeet on the ground.

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 Cultivating the attitude of the compassionate witness

The outcome of this alchemical yoga practice and the desir

able attitude for the divinations can be called the posture of the
compassionate witness or empathic observer. The witness or observer
consciousness is an attitude of balanced equanimity (“even-heart-
edness”) — neither approach nor avoid, neither fight nor flight. The
judgments we superimpose on our experience (good or bad, like or
dislike, right or wrong, beautiful or ugly) are suspended - at least
for the time being. In German, the term Gelassenheit (“letting-be-
ness”) best expresses this kind of attitude. We should recognize
that we do not eliminate our capacity for conscious discernment,
what the Buddhists call “discriminative wisdom,” when we suspend,
for the sake of balanced understanding, the automatic overlays of
categorical judgments we tend to habitually impose on experience.
In the words of the Sengstan, the third Chinese Zen patriarch:
The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences.
When like and dislike are both absent, everything becomes clear and
undisguised. If you wish to see the truth, then hold no opinions for or
against anything (Hsin Hsin Ming).

We should also realize that the balance of equanimity is not

the balance of indifference — the “couldn’t care less,” attitude of the
detached observer. The difference lies in the presence of empathy or
compassion, the conscious extending out of the feeling connection.
This is why the Buddhists emphasize that we need to combine
the practice of wisdom for equanimity with compassion for the
suffering — of oneself and of others. The balance of indifference is
detached, uncaring and egotistical. On the other hand being over
involved in service to others, without the balance of wisdom, can
lead to useless giving and depleting of one’s own resources, thus
increasing suffering and not reducing it.

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 We can distinguish sympathy and empathy along these
lines: sympathy (“together-feeling”) is unconscious, automatic
resonance with another’s affective state, via the limbic system
emotional brain. Empathy (“into-feeling”) or compassion is a
conscious intentional choice to extend our feeling connection to
another.
With the attitude of the compassionate witness or empathic
observer we bring awareness, breath, empathy and purifying
fire to the structures and functions of the body in the process
of self-healing. We bring that same four-fold transmutation of
the elements to our relations with others, to heal and strengthen
the perceptual, emotional and mental relationship lines. And we
bring this same combination of equanimity, purifying fire and
empathy to our former self as we work to heal the painful residues
of past experiences.

* *

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76
The Janus Model
The Personal Life World
Alchemical Divination

Past Present Possible Futures

 5
The Life-World and Self-System

The rwo-faced Janus, gatekeeper of the gods, spirit of passages

and transitions, who looks into the past and the future, is a
symbolic image of the two main kinds of divination. In healing
divination, the face oi our intention and attention is turned to the
past, tracking along the time lines to find the cause or origin of a
problem. In visioning divination, the face of intention-attention
is oriented to the future, tracking the time lines to identify pos
sible and/or probable outcomes. The Janus diagram models the
central process of the divinations, whether done for oneself or for
others. “Past” and “future” simply provide two different directions
of awareness from the present point of view, the present field
of awareness. As stated above, it may even be that memory and
visioning involve the same neural structures and functions, and
evolved together as parallel adaptations. The cusp between past
and future is a threshold between different times and experiences
that we can learn to cross in either direction, intentionally and
consciously.
The one significant difference between past and future, in the
otherwise symmetrical arrangement of time lines, is that the past
is determinate - it happened the way it happened; whereas the
future is probabilistic - pregnant with multiple possibilities. Some
people believe that the past can be changed - but my view is that

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 we change it virtually (not actually) when we change the way we
hold the story and tell the story to ourselves and others. Some
people also believe that we can track and “remote-view” the future
the way it will actually happen, i.e. predictably. Instead, my view
is that we are constantly co-creating multiple future scenarios,
with varying probabilities, out of the matrix of all possibilities
that the universe presents to us.

Integrating into the Present

As stated above, the complete divination cycle always involves

a double movement of perception and integration, in both the
healing (past) and visioning (future) divinations. Memories,
whether painful or pleasant, may be recalled or re-experienced,
and then brought back, re-membered into the present field of
awareness. This present field, which is our world, our sense of
self, then expands to include that new perspective on our history.
The traumatized person is healed, made whole, when s/he can
say, “This happened to me, it had these effects on my psyche, and
now I can get on with my life, without being blocked by intrusive
flashbacks or nightmares.” With positive experiences also, when
we have retrieved and integrated them we have a deeper and more
complete sense of how and why we became the person we have
become.
The integration of visions of the future also involves a return
movement to the present - a movement of communication and
realization. The young person who has had a vision of becoming
a healer has an expanded sense of their present identity. He or she
may say, “I’m going to be a doctor,” and then proceed to realize
the vision by undergoing the necessary training. There are also

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“course-correction” visions, where we see the undesirable prob
able outcomes of a present course of action. Such visions are an
essential component of recovery from addiction: the alcoholic
or drug addict may, in a visionary state (perhaps induced by
a psychedelic), “see” the probable ruinous outcomes of their
behavior and thus feel empowered to make different choices.
In situations of conflict, if someone can articulate a vision of
possible peaceful future relations, this can inspire the participants
to make different choices in the present. Always, the realization
of the vision, the co-creation of our future, begins in the present
moment. In the words of the old Chinese saying, “The journey of
a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
The new stories we tell about our past, the new choices we
make about our futures - these are always made in the present
field of awareness and identity, the present life-world. The “now”
is the place ofchoice, ofresponsibility, ofpower and offreedom.
What we sow (now) is what we shall reap (future). The bed we’re
sleeping in (now) is the bed we have made for ourselves (past). In
the Indian and Buddhist worldview this is the principle of karma
- that all our actions have consequences. We cannot erase, avoid
or circumvent the karmic consequences of the choices we have
made. We can however, by becoming conscious of the choices
we are making, in the present, help bring about consequences
that are more in line with our highest aspirations and spiritual
intentions.
Ifyou want to know your past, look to your present conditions.
Ifyou want to know yourfuture, look to your present actions.
- Buddhist saying.
 The multiple strands of awareness

We can distinguish four possible strands or modes of aware

ness in our experience: the mental-verbal, the mental-imaginal,
the emotional and the sensory. Our memories and visions
and the tracking of the developmental (past) and anticipatory
(future) time lines may occur in one or more of these modes. This
multiplicity of our experience accounts for the complexity and
sometimes necessarily prolonged duration of healing regression
work. I have myself experienced how an event from my childhood
that I could recall quite clearly in thought and image, still held an
unexpectedly intense affective charge when it was released during
bodywork.
Sometimes a particular sensation may trigger the release of
streams of memories, as in Marcel Prousts A la recherche du temps
perdue, when the remembered taste of his aunts cakes sets him
off on his quest. A child’s secret visions of cosmic wonder and
awe may be the wellsprings of a lifetime of artistic or scientific
creativity, as in Albert Hofmann’s story of his childhood vision of
the mysterious oneness of Nature, that he recalled when he first
experienced the psychedelic effect of the LSD he had synthesized
in his laboratory.
Similarly, our anticipatory awareness of future probabilities
and possibilities may occur in one or more of the modes of aware
ness. Actual foresight may involve seeing ourselves doing something
we haven’t done, or literally “seeing” a child in the form of an
adult. Or it may be like the complex symbolic presentations of
the visionary Sioux holy man Black Elk. The thought-visions
o ‘tforethought or foreknowledge include the flash of intuitive
knowing and the choosing of a course of action, the calculated

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business plan of the entrepreneur or the strategies of the military
commander.
Our sense of future possibilities may be a purely affective
presentiment - an anticipatory feeling, for which we may have no
cognitive explanations. Such presentiments may be the ominous
and foreboding premonitions of danger or the excited and joyous
anticipation of adventure. In doing the divinations, whether past
or future, people often find themselves naturally specializing in
one or another of these modes of sentient awareness. All of them
develop in clarity with practice.

Mapping our Present Life-World of Relations

The central field of present awareness and identity, on the

cusp between past and future, but encompassing our memories
and our anticipatory visions, is what may be called our “world.”
Each of us knows, perceives and lives in a private world, part of
a greater world that lies beyond the horizons of our awareness. It
is this private, individual world that we refer to when we use the
identifying pronouns “me” and “I.” An expansion of consciousness
or awakening occurs when the boundaries of our individual
life-world are enlarged. In the words of Heraclitus - “when we are
asleep, we each live in our own world and when we are awake, we
all live in the one great world.”
The concept of “life-world” (Lebenswelt) was formulated
by philosophers of the European phenomenological school. It
includes both the Mitwelt (“with-world”) of relations and the
Umwelt (“around-world”) or environment. This life-world is what
we are presently aware of and identified with — and is the starting
and ending point of all the divinations, whether we are doing

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 them for ourselves or for others. In the alchemical divination
work it is always useful and valuable to begin by describing and
drawing a map of this personal life-world.
The Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Han often emphasized that
the notion of interbeing, a relational concept, is preferable to the
more abstract concept of “being.” As is well known, one of the
central tenets of Buddhism is the notion of no-self, that there
is no such thing as a self. The 18th century Scottish philosopher
David Hume echoed this view when he observed that no matter
how hard and carefully he searched, he could find no “self” in
his introspections. What Hume and the Buddhists are pointing
to, is that the concept of “self” which looms so large in modern
Western psychological thought, is basically an abstraction, not
some kind of an entity. It is an example of what linguists call
reification (“thing-making”), where an abstract concept becomes
concretized as an entity with a name.
Some traditional indigenous languages don’t even have the
possibility of saying someone is - only the relational belonging
ness defines us.
“Tzutujil was a language of carrying and belonging, nor a language of
being...With no verb 'to be,' permanence becomes a comic hypothe
sis for most Mayans, who don’t believe anything will last on its own...
'Belonging to’ is as close to 'being' as Tzutujil thinking gets. There are
no generic nouns for people or things; all words have to belong to
someone.” ('Martin Prechtel, Secrets ofthe Talking Jaguar, p. 211)

The philosophical and psychological conundrums associated

with the concept of “self” can best be avoided, I have come to
think, if we combine the indigenous and phenomenological
notion of “life-world” with a systems view: the selfis a system
ofrelations that we can also call the life-world. Systems thinkers,
especially those with a feminist orientation, have pointed out that

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relations are “essentially constitutive,” — in other words, we are
relational beings, in our essence. Rrelations are not some kind
of add-on to a basic core self. For example, every one of us is the
son or daughter of a man and woman — we could not be a “self ”
apart from who we are in that web of relations we call “family.”
Family systems therapists have long insisted that we should treat
an individuals problems only within the network of family rela
tions. So let us begin the process of tuning in to and mapping the
self-system or life-world of relations.
Draw a blank circle on a large piece ofpaper and indicate on
ity by name, symbol, color or shape, the corefamily relations -
parents, grandparents, siblings, spouses or partners, children and
grandchildren, children ofsiblings, that constitute your world.

Besides our genetic family of origin, we also are participants

in a web or network of chosen affinities, human beings who are
friends, colleagues, collaborators, teachers, mentors, allies - all those
human beings whom we know and relate with by name, and who
know and relate with us by name. The name defines the boundary
of the circle. The circle is not closed — in the course of daily life we
may encounter other human beings we don’t know by name (the
waitress in the restaurant, the driver of the bus), whom we treat
with the respect due any being, and who may or may not become
part of our world. There are other human beings whom we know
of indirectly (the mayor of our city, the actress we admire) but we
don’t have a personal naming relationship with them.

Indicate on the map ofyour life-world, all the other named

human beings with whom you are related byfriendship and
affinity ofinterest.

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 It is important to remember that our web of human relations,
both those of family and the elective affinities, includes not only
the living, but also the dead, the souls dwelling in the Spirit World,
with whom we communicate and commune in our dreams and
visions and memories. We may speak of deceased relatives or
friends as “lost,” but it is we who are truly lost if we do not
continue to cultivate the spiritual bond with loved ones, regard
less of whether they are alive or dead. Bert Hellinger, the very
influential German former priest and therapist, who has been one
of my main teachers, greatly extended and deepened the method
of setting up family constellations by including not only the living
but also the dead, and considering the web of relations as a kind
of “family soul.”
Include in the map ofyour life-world some representation ofthe
souls and spirits ofdeceased ancestors andfamily members, as well
as yourfriends, allies, teachers and guides dwelling in the Spirit
World.

Non-human beings. For many people the emotional bonds

we have with a pet or other animal — the dog, the cat, the horse
— can be at least as close and meaningful as human relations.
For gardeners, growers, herbalists and those with the legendary
“green thumb,” an affinity for and love of plants may also be a
significant part of our self-system. For those working consciously
with shamanic healing and divination, the spirits of wild animals
and plants are important allies, guides and helpers. The emerging
paradigms of deep ecology and ecopsychology encourage us to
regard the ecosystems in which we live with respect and conscious
intentionality.

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Indicate symbolically on the map the important relations with
non-human beings and the natural ecosystems ofyour life—world.

The relationship we have with our physical body is clearly of

central importance in our life-world and self-system. Issues of
physical illness and wellness are central concerns and preoccupa
tions for most of us. Philosophically, there are many different
views and opinions about the nature of the relationship between
mind and body. Psychologically, issues of body-image and self
esteem are entangled in the many psychosomatic problems that
plague civilized humans. For athletes and other performers, the
functional capabilities of the body are the foundation of their
chosen life-work.
For bringing clarity and balance into the relationship with body
in the context of spiritual practice, I like GurdjiefFs teaching: he
recommended we relate to our body the way we would relate to
a loyal servant. Obviously, we would treat him or her with respect
and without abuse, we would take care of real needs, including
needs for food, exercise, rest and recreation, while not indulging
spurious distractions and addictions. Saint Francis of Assisi made
use of a similar metaphor when he admonished his disciples to
take care of “Brother Donkey.”
Indicate symbolically on the map ofyour life-worldyour relation
ship with your body — body-image, attitude, and yourfeelings
towards your pljysical vehicle or vessel.

We have relations not only with individual beings, but with

collectives ofbeings. Our relationship with family and community
is the core of our belonging and our primary support system.

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 The clan, the neighborhood, the village, the group of friends, the
team or band or tribe, the professional association, the club of
shared interest, the company, the organization, the religious con
gregation, the political party - our participation in these human
collectives are core defining features of our self-system. The
nation-state to which we belong is also such a collective, although
a relative newcomer on the world-historical stage, being at most
200 years old. Complex concepts and feelings of patriotism and
nationalism - often ambivalent mixtures of pride, embarrassment
and prejudice — cluster around our national identification.
In this age of globalization - primarily driven by the market
forces of industrial capitalism - a sense of belonging to a common
humanity, the “family of man,” a multi-cultural, pluralistic
planet-wide collective sense of identity is growing. In the final
chorale of Beethovens Ninth Symphony, the words Seid umschlungen
Millionen (“I’m embracing you, oh millions”) express this global
izing circle of caring and compassion. I believe that the extension
of compassionate care to all human and all non-human beings on
Earth is the key to resolving the evolutionary challenges of war
and planetary habitat destruction which will make or break our
civilization.
Indicate on your life-world map, your relationship with the collec
tive soul-fields offamily, community and society with which you
are involved, as well as our common humanity on planet Earth.

Our life-world or self-system also comprises relations with

particular regions or places on Earth, that may be charged with
intense emotional attachments. Ancient peoples believed that
places themselves have a particular spirit — the genius loci — and
many mythic stories were told about places and their spirits.

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Prime among the places of significance for each of us is the place
we call “home” — both the home in which we grew up, and the
place in which we presently live with our network of human
relations. Our sense of identity and attitudes towards one another
are strongly affected by our place of origin. Among indigenous
people around the world, great importance attaches to the related
ness of a person to particular place. Someone may introduce him-
or herself by saying: “I am from this place, and my father’s family
comes from these mountains, and my mother’s from this river.”
In the complex urbanizing and globalizing civilization of our
time, our ancestral place of origin may be associated (as it is in
my case) with traumatic and challenging stories of dislocation
by migration, refugee flight, war or economic hardship. On the
other hand, we may be fortunate to know and live in places of
safety and beauty, where we truly feel “at home.” There may also
be important places in our life-world where we go for rest and re
creation, and wild places (like mountains, deserts, oceans) where
we go to nourish our indigenous soul and seek visions.
Indicate on the map ofyour world, the significant places ofyour
life and the quality ofyour relationship with them.

“I live my life in widening circles” wrote the poet Rilke. Our

life-world of relations with beings and places expands throughout
our formative years of growing and learning, and through
subsequent experiences of expanded awareness. The child of a
family living in a house, becomes the man or woman of a com
munity living in a town or village, and then a member of a society
occupying one of the continents of planet Earth. Personally, I iden
tify myself as a Native European (the word “native” refers to birth)
and American by choice of land and culture. Eventually, we may

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 develop a worldview, a Weltanschauung, a conception of the greater
cosmos we live in. Albert Einstein reportedly said that one of the
most important questions any of us can ask ourselves as individu
als, is “whether the universe is safe for us.” We are beings, not
only of planet Earth, but of the Solar System, and the galaxy called
Milky Way, and a universe of countless billions of other galaxies.
For each of us, our story is intimately involved in a universe story, an
evolutionary cosmology of inconceivable magnificence.
Mainstream science tells us that we are the sole intelligent
species on Earth, on the sole inhabited planet in our solar system
and, “as far as we know,” in the galaxy and beyond. However, a
moment’s reflection on the sheer numbers calculated by astro
nomers make such assumptions absurdly unlikely and simplistic.
Visionary cosmologists and the reports of ET communications
from thousands of contactees converge in bringing us a picture of
a universe whose infinite and diverse worlds are likely inhabited
by countless civilizations at varying levels of evolution. Numerous
observers agree that alien civilizations of vastly advanced science
and technology have been and are visiting Earth: we know they
have far advanced technology by the fact that they have mastered
space travel. Based on our education and our personal experiences,
we can ask ourselves what our conceptions and feelings are about
this universe in which we live.
Find a way to indicate, on the map ofyour life-world, your
conception or view ofthe greater cosmos, the universe as a whole,
in both its material and spiritual dimensions.

* * *

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 6
Stages of the Life Cycle

You have now completed the mapping of your life-world of

relations, your self-system. In preparing for the divinations, in
addition to creating this map, it’s useful to identify the phase of
the life cycle you are in. The basic values and attitudes towards life
and the kinds of questions we ask in our divinations differ char
acteristically in the three main phases of our life — the formative
years, the middle or mature years, and the elder phase.
In the formative phase, the main focus is on growing,
developing and learning - physically, mentally, perceptually,
emotionally and socially. Our sense of identity, of who we are,
gradually shifts from being embedded in the family matrix, to
becoming part of the larger community, society and world. The
middle phase is the time when we “settle down” to a career path,
growing a family, building a network and support system, and
pursuing our life’s chosen goals - producing something, making
a contribution to the community. In the elder phase there is less
drive or pressure to produce or contribute something (although
creativity may continue and flourish). This is traditionally a time
of reflection and remembering, of guiding the young, and of the
elder wisdom associated with contemplation of mortality and the
life beyond.

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 It is important to recognize that looking at the phase of
consciousness development in the stages of human life involves
a different paradigm than the concept of states of consciousness,
whether ordinary or non-ordinary. It is clear that these three
different orientations towards life don’t really amount to a
permanently different state of consciousness in each phase.
Rather, individuals in all three phases of their life cycle go
through the ordinary states of waking, sleeping and dreaming.
They also may experience involuntarily or intentionally altered
states, whether induced by psychedelic plants or yogic practices or
other means, planned or spontaneous.
However, the linear sequence of stages in time is crucial
to an understanding of the quality of consciousness, the values
and concerns in each stage. We may think of childhood and youth
being times of training and preparation for the phase of productive
adulthood. In the elder phase, by contrast, ones thinking and
reflection is much more concerned with the past, with memory,
as well as with anticipation of our mortality and with spiritual
issues.
The three-stage model of the life-cycle is expanded to a
four-stage one if we add the prenatal epoch, which has been the
subject of a great deal of new research and observations in the
last two decades. It is now widely accepted in the field of prenatal
and perinatal (“around-birth”) psychology that the embryo and
fetus is a fully sentient and conscious human being, telepathically
attuned to its parents and its environment. Adults can retrieve
memories from this stage in deep hypnotic states of consciousness
specifically targeted to this phase of our existence. Furthermore,
the prenatal stage of development is where the most deep-seated
defensive identity patterns are established, often with long-lasting

90
consequences for the individual. Working to release these armor
ings of the psyche stemming from our prenatal existence, can have
profoundly healing impacts on our life. The work of Stanislav
Grof and others has shown that the huge transition of birth, and
the trauma so often associated with it, functions as a kind of
portal to the transpersonal realms of soul and spirit.
In the work of the 19th century German scientist mystic
Gustav Theodore Fechner we encounter a different three-stage
model of human existence, remarkably perceptive in its under
standing of human development and the mysteries of the soul. In
Fechner’s view the three phases of our existence are: (1) the intra
uterine or prenatal, in which we grow the somatic equipment for
our embodied life from the seed-form of conception;
(2) the middle phase between birth and death, in which, through
our life-experiences, we grow and nourish the divine soul-seed;
and (3) the post-mortem phase of the hereafter, which is as
expanded in relation to the embodied second stage, as this one is
in comparison to the prenatal.
Western psychological theories posit various stages of the
development of consciousness in childhood, for example Freud’s
psychosexual stages and Jean Piaget’s ideas on cognitive develop
ment. Erik Erikson formulated an influential theory of six stages
of the life cycle, in each of which our sense of identity, as well as
our values and interests are characteristically different.
Besides the developmental models anchored to the life-cycle,
there exist in the literature of Eastern and Western religion, as
well as in transpersonal psychology, descriptions of different
stages of spiritual development that a person may go through
on the path to enlightenment, mystical oneness or sainthood.
This kind of developmental approach is a different perspective

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 than the paradigm of altered states of consciousness. Those who
imagine that a yogic adept or Zen master is always in a state of
enlightenment, bliss or nirvana are confusing states and stages.
The Buddhist texts are clear, for example, that Gautama Buddha
entered into the state of nirvana and stayed there for eight days;
and then “came down,” as it were. He worked the rest of his life
to teach and preach, found monasteries, walk, eat and drink
among others, until the death of his physical vehicle.
In the course of spiritual practice, it is important to learn how
to identify and navigate through various states of consciousness
as well as to apply them for various purposes. For the purposes
of the alchemical divinations, as described above, we use the
light-fire yoga methods to induce a mildly heightened state of
awareness. The more we are centered in the attitude of the com
passionate observer, with the purifying fire to clear the channels of
perception, the clearer our divinations will be.
The phase of the life-cycle we are in will affect the kinds of
questions we ask in the divinations, and how we integrate the
answers and insights received into our lives. Our life-world net
work of relations is configured differently in the different phases
of life. For those in the middle years, it can be useful to also draw
an additional map of your life-world in the formative years. Some
of the individuals (for example, parents and siblings) will be the
same, but the quality of the relationship may be quite different.
In the three-stage model of the life-cycle, the transits of the
planet Saturn provide a useful marker of the major transitions. In
the symbolic language of astrology, Saturn represents the arche
type of time and the disciplined learning imposed by the con
straints of the passage of time. The planet’s orbital period around
the Sun is 29.5 years, and thus the “Saturn return,” when Saturn
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returns to the same position it had in a person’s natal (“birth-
date”) horoscope, is traditionally considered a major marker of
developmental milestones - with a leeway of one or two years on
either side of the exact date. Thus we can say that the transition
from the formative years to the middle years of maturity occurs in
the late twenties; and the transition to the phase of elderhood in
the late fifties, around the time of the second Saturn return.

The Formative Phase

Contrary to earlier beliefs, recent research in brain develop

ment has shown that the brain grows and changes continually in
young people and that the integration of the cortical frontal lobe
(responsible for anticipatory planning and reasoning) with the
rest of the brain generally is not completed until the late twenties.
Whereas the 18-21 years age period is generally considered the
beginning of adulthood in Western society (for drinking, voting,
sexual choice, military service) this neurological research supports
a later time frame for complete maturation, as is also recognized
in some traditional societies. In my work with people over the
past forty years I have been able to amply confirm the astrologers’
observation that the time of the first Saturn return almost always
involves far-reaching changes in a person’s life - in the place we
live, the work we do and in our close relations.
Typically, the late twenties is the time when the years of
college and graduate school are completed, and professionals in
law or medicine or science settle down to practice and/or teach.
A person who has been exploring and testing different work or
career options may settle on a chosen one. Partnership choices
made in the early or mid-twenties may be severely tested and

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 changed; or they may be tested and confirmed, couples settling
down to raise children. In conjunction with choices of work and
love, the place where we live may also change around this time.
In my own case, this period was a time of extreme financial hard
ship, emotional turmoil, the disruption of my community and
partnership, the birth of my child and a move from New York to
California.
For those ofyou in the middle or elder years, take a moment to
recall (perhaps making notes) the period ofyour late twenties,
around the first Saturn return. Ask yourselfhow your life changed
during this time - in the place you Lived, in your work and in your
relations, as well as in your underlying values and interests.

One of the first divinations we do in our trainings is to

examine the impact of the Saturn return period in our life, and in
the next chapter we will practice this kind of divination. Those in
their twenties or late teens, who are still in their formative years,
can look in more detail at the transitions within this time period.
The astrologers point out that the transit cycle of Saturn, like
those of any planet, can be divided into four phases, according to
the angular aspects to the natal position: first a square (90° angle),
then the opposition (180° angle), a third square (90° angle) from
the other side, and the return conjunction. In the case of Saturn,
this divides the 29 year cycle into four phases of seven years,
approximately marking key transitions within the formative years,
each of them a significant expansion of consciousness.
Around seven years is the first entry into school: the child
becomes aware that there is a life beyond the intimate nest of
family, and there are adults, called “teachers,” as well as the
parents of neighboring children, who play a different role in our

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life than the adults we have known so far. A further major expan
sion of our life-world occurs around fourteen, with the physical
surges and identity crises of adolescence, the awakening of
sexuality and vast curiosity about the inner world of feelings. At
around twenty-one (plus or minus a couple of years) occurs a third
great consciousness-expanding transition - the first establishment
of a living home outside the parents’ home of childhood and
adolescence. This may occur via going to a university, or living
with a first partner; it may be in another state or country; and it
may involve greater financial independence and the challenges of
establishing a livelihood. (The age of twenty-one also marks the
first quarter of the Uranus cycle of 84 years).
For those still in their twenties, look back at the previous transition
ofyourformative years - the time when you first leftyour parental
home, and examine the changes in your self-system ofrelations,
and hi your values and attitudes at that time.

The Middle Phase

The middle years of adult maturity, the thirties, forties and

fifties, are the time when we pursue our careers, practice our
professions, raise our children, explore the world, make contribu
tions to our communities and involve ourselves, to a greater or
lesser degree, in the political and economic affairs of the society
or state in which we live. Our lives unfold in dynamic interaction
between the inner impulses to express our souls vision and the
external circumstances and conditions imposed by the realities
of fate. We find happiness in contributing to the well-being of
others, particularly our families and children, as well as the greater

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 network of relations, human and more-than-human, in which we
are involved.
It should be recognized that although the values and visions
of the middle mature period may be expressed in parenting
children, motherhood and fatherhood in the literal, biological
sense are not essential to a complete fulfilling human life. Indeed,
it may be one of the hallmarks of a maturing civilization that men
and women increasingly devote themselves to nurturing and sup
porting all the growing, living beings in their communities, not
just those with whom they are genetically related.
A basic division of the life-cycle into two halves is common
in traditional societies, and has entered into modern discourse
through the idea of the mid-life crisis. Astrologers usually relate
this mid-life transition to the cycle of Uranus: with an eighty-four
year orbital period, transiting Uranus would be at opposition
(180°)to its position in the natal horoscope at the age of forty-
two. In contrast to the slow and disciplined changes symbolized
by Saturn, Uranus is the archetypal symbol of sudden break
through changes, which may be both disruptive and liberating.
Saturn also makes another opposition to its natal position at
forty-three; and the planet Neptune completes one quarter of
its cycle at forty-one - so the early forties is a time of multiple
transition crises.
The idea of the mid-life turning point as a spiritual crisis
found its classic expression in Western literature in Dantes great
epic poem La Divina Commedia, which opens with the verse:
In the middle of the journey of my life,
1 found myself in a dark forest
and I had lost my way.

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The poet-pilgrim then finds his spirit guide, the ancient Roman
poet Virgil, who conducts him down the many layers of the
inferno, then up around the mountain of the purgatorio, finally
to the gates of the paradiso, where he meets his beloved angelic
Beatrice.
C. G. Jung also wrote about this mid-life turning point.
According to him in the first half of life the psyche is extraverted,
outward oriented toward and into the world, acquiring skills
and building relations, defining one’s individuality, as uniquely
distinct from the collective. In the second half of life, according
to Jung, our orientation becomes more introverted, balancing
the opposites within the psyche and moving toward integrated,
undivided wholeness, a process he called individuation.
Those readers who are in the second halfoflife may look back
at the Uranian mid-life transition oftheirforties, and examine
the changes in place, in work, in relations and in basic values,
probably finding a more spiritual, inward orientation emergitig in
their lives at that time.

The Elder Phase

As we move into the later phases of the middle productive

period, the interest in spiritual matters grows and deepens. People
may choose to devote more time to spiritual practices and read
ing, to working with a spiritual teacher and to finding a spiritual
community or sangha. In traditional Indian society, it was cus
tomary for a man or woman living the life of a householder, after
the children had left the home, to retire to an ashram monastery
for a life of inner contemplation. Moving into the elder phase of

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 life is sometimes associated with what is quaintly called “retire
ment,” but by no means implies a lessened productiveness or inac
tivity. As a psychotherapist, I have observed that men and women
entering into their sixties, with the extended life-expectancies now
becoming the norm, may be surprised to find themselves antici
pating a couple of decades of productive and fulfilling existence.
Questions of mortality and the after-life inevitably play an
increasing role in the psychic life of those in the elder phase.
Indeed one could say that the willingness to honestly confront
and discuss these basic issues of death and life make the difference
between living an elder phase of continued growth and depth, and
an old age existence marked by anxious clinging to diminishing
capacities and pointless distractions.
On my first wilderness vision quest (at the age of fifty),
guided by my esteemed friends Steven Foster and Meredith
Little (of the School ofLost Borders), they explained to me the
indigenous concept of “decision road” - when you decide to walk
on the road that you know ends with your death. I well remember
the exhilarating liberation of making this simple choice to accept
that death was the end, though not of course the goal, of my
life. Just as the formative phase of our life is marked by the prior
conditioning of the prenatal phase, so is the elder phase greatly
influenced by our anticipatory beliefs and conceptions of post
mortem life.
Readers in the elder period of their lives may contemplate the
deepening processes ofintegrating wholeness in ivhich they are
involved, as they reflect on theformative times oftheir youth, the
productivity oftheir mature years and the transcendent interests of
their elder years.

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 In the elder phase, parents may become grandparents, and
the relationships between grandparents and grandchildren can be
among the most precious and beautiful of our lives. For a child,
a loving and supportive grandparent can help them find greater
balance in their feelings toward mother and father, whom the
grandparent knows from the other side of the generational divide.
For an older man or woman, the relation with a grandchild
offers the opportunity to express loving nurturance without the
admixture of anxiety and inadequacy that so often accompanies
young parenting.
The trans-generational bond between grandparents and
grandchildren may of course also be the unconscious carrier of
karmic patterns of trauma and guilt, even when there has been
little or no actual personal contact. In the family constellation
therapy pioneered by Bert Hellinger, one works through mediumistic
representatives of ancestors, whether deceased or living, to resolve
such issues. In the alchemical divinations we work directly,
through meditation and invocation in the field of present aware
ness, to reconnect and reconcile with the spirits of our parents
and ancestors, whether living or dead.
In Jungian psychology, the transgenerational interpersonal
relationship between the old and the young, is played out on
the intrapsychic stage. Through working with dreams and active
imagination a relationship between the archetypes of the old man
and the young boy (the senex and puer) can be a major healing
factor in the psychic life of a man - as youthful spontaneity and
enthusiasm is balanced with the wisdom and patience of old age.
A similar process occurs in the psychic development of women
(between senecta and puella) when the vibrant playfulness and

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 creativity of the girl-child or maiden
is tempered with the fearlessness and
sharp discernment of the crone.
The perspective of three phases of
the life-cycle was expressed in classical
mythology and the hermetic traditions
in the imagery of three-fold deities.
Imagery of the goddess as maiden, as
mother and as crone - for example
Persephone, Demeter and Hecate - are
ubiquitous in mythic art.
“Blessings of the Triple Goddess”
by Mickie Mueller Images of three-fold male gods
www.mickiemuellerart.com
are found less commonly. However, I
once had a dream in which I encountered three manifestations of
the winged Hermes — as a youth, a man and an old man - flying
through the air. The mature man was pointing with one hand
to his genital - to make sure, I suppose, I got the point that this
dream-teaching was about the transformations of the masculine
archetype. In the mythic iconography of the alchemical tradi
tion, the “thrice-great”
(Trismegistos) Hermes
also expresses this vision
of the three phases of the
human life-cycle (as I
would interpret it).

Three-fold Hermes
from alchemical text
by Lambsprinck. 1625

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 7
The Well of Memory and the Tree of
Visions

In my book The Well ofRemembrance, I wrote about the

Nordic myth of the well at the foot of the World Tree, from
which you could drink in order to know your past history and,
if you drank deeply enough, the past history of the greater world
in which you live. The guardian spirit of the Well and the World
Tree was Mimir (whose name means “memory”) and you had to
get Mimir’s permission to drink from the well - permission that
was granted only in response to sincere questioning or intention.
We can use the mythic image of the well of memory to assist the
process of divination to the past. The symbolic act of drinking
from a well reflects the double movement of regression-and-
integration involved in memory divination: you lower a cup into
the well and you bring the water back up and drink it, assimilat
ing the essences of your remembered experiences.
Transposed to the individual level, the world tree is the fulcrum
of your life-world and evolving self-system, poised between your
past and your possible futures. In the space-time dimension, the
world tree (which is also the “tree of life”) is the central vertical axis
through which cosmic-spiritual life-energy is channeled into your
space-time vehicle or body-and-energy-field. The physical vehicle of
your soul is also the vessel of your alchemical transformations.

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 When awareness is centered in the tree-axis of your present
life-world and energy-field, the past is situated either “below” (as
with the image of the well) or “behind” (as with the image of
the road you’ve traveled). Correspondingly, for the purposes of
visioning (which we shall describe further) the future is “above”
and “in front” (where we’re headed) - and can be accessed by
rising to the top of the tree axis and tracking along the probable
paths spread out in front.

Memory Divination With Mimir’s Well

As I’ve indicated, there are several ways to move attention into

the past: one, used commonly in psychoanalytic or hypno
therapeutic procedures, is via an “affect bridge” - letting the
present painful feeling or symptom guide us to its source or
origin. One can ask (or intend) to retrieve a memory that
is relevant to resolving a difficulty or problem in our present
life. More broadly speaking, to get a better understanding of
how we became the person we have become, we can track to an
earlier stage or transition of the life-cycle, using our internal time
monitor.
For the purposes of this exercise, we will look at the transition
of the first Saturn return, in the late twenties. Those who are in
their twenties can choose to look at the transition of first leaving
your parental home. You may want to arrange a quiet place and a
time free from distractions; and listen to a recording of rhythmic
drumming or rattling to facilitate concentration (for a suggested
period of 20-30 minutes).

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 Calm and center your mind and align with the four directions
and the spirits ofthe local place and time.
Formulate your intention or question for the divination - to
recognize the impact ofthe Saturn return transition ofyour late
twenties (or ofthe time when you first leftyour parents home).
Ignite the light-fire energy-sun in the center ofyour heart-field,
letting the purifying action spread out spherically, and invoke the
Presence ofyour Higher Self-Spirit, staying centered in an attitude of
empathic observation.
Invoke the spirits ofNature, from the animal, plant and mineral
realm, to guide and assist you, especially those with whom you have
already established a working alliance.
Invoke the spirits ofyour human relations, yourfamilial ances
tors, your teachers, mentors and gurus (whether living or in the
spirit world), as well as any deities with whom you have affinity.
Particularly invoke the assistance ofMimir the Rememberer, Keeper
ofthe World Axis.
Loiver the cup ofyour awareness into the well ofthe past, situated
at yourfeet, and ask to know, feel and sense the changes in your life
— the place you lived, the work that you did, the relations you were
involved with — around your late twenties, and the impact ofthose
changes on your subsequent life. (For those ofyou younger, retrieve
memoriesfrom the time ofleaving your parental home).
Bring the cup back up and as yon drink from it, feel the memory
essences from those past experiences spread throughout your being -
your present mental and emotional state, and your physical body from
head to feet.
When you feel complete, give thanks to the spirits who guided
and assisted you, and communicate your findings, either speaking to
a friend or writing in yourjournal, re-membering and re-connecting
these past experiences into your present life-world and self-system.

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 “Drinking from the well” exemplifies one of the imaginal
psychic tools we can use for memory divination work. We can
also “look into the well,” and with a similar double movement,
bring the memory pictures back into the present field of aware
ness for integration. There are hints in the poetic Eddas that the
Nordic seers used both methods for divining with Mimir’s Well.
A third method is “immersion in the well,” where one is com
pletely absorbed in the thoughts, images, feelings and sensations
of the past experience. This is what is called an “absorptive trance”
in hypnotherapy; or in German — Versenkung, a state of “being-
sunk-down-in.”
Another imaginal alternative for accessing the past is to walk
back along the road of our life to retrieve the memories. Such
images are useful aids when learning to focus attention in meditative
divinations. Skilled psychic seers may simply track along the time
lines following their intention - and with practice anyone can
learn to do this, for oneself and for others.
We can use such methods to re-connect with (re-member)
the formative years of our youth and childhood, healing painful
residues as needed and accessing forgotten visions for creative
inspiration. The period of earliest infancy (where most people
say “I have no memories”) as well as the perinatal (around birth)
and prenatal period are particularly susceptible to being accessed
via absorptive trance or immersion states, because the somatic
component of experience predominates during that phase.
Going further back we can even access, with conscious re
membering, the impact of conception: we can recognize how the
mother’s and father’s emotional state at that time, their visions,
hopes and fears, were imprinted in our psyche, along with the
genetic predispositions (both weaknesses and strengths) encoded
into the nucleus of every cell of the body.

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 We are not locked into unchanging patterns by these pre
dispositions. Rather, they form the threads which we are
constantly weaving into the tapestry of our being through our life
experiences and the choices that we make. In states of meditative
divination we can consciously separate these threads (in the ana
lytical operation the old alchemists called separatio) and re-weave
them into healthier and more beautiful patterns, better suited to
our souls chosen path of life expression.
The yogic and Buddhist traditions speak of these predisposing
threads and connecting patterns as samskams (“together-acting”).
In modern psychological language we could call them character
traits. Their implanted presence in our psyche is irreversible, but
they may be either unconsciously expressed in our life-experience,
or modified and compensated by conscious divinatory healing.
Besides the ancestral samskaras, we also bring with us, prior to
birth and conception, the karmic residues from past incarnations.
These too are woven into the tapestry of our being - and may exert
profound (and usually unconscious) influences on our character
and relationship interactions. These karmic influences also can be
explored and integrated through our divinations - work that is
akin to past-life regression therapy.
Working with the karmic patterns from past incarnations
brings us to the realm of our immortal human souls, beyond
the linear space-time framework of our personal history. This
dimension of our beingness is present in the here-now field of our
life-world, as well as simultaneously present before conception
and after death. When we consciously connect with this realm, we
can experience the unobstructed communion of the triad of souls
of mother, father and child. In experiencing the unconditional
and joyous love shared at this level between souls, we can ask to

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 know the primary purpose and vision of our life, and the reasons
for the choice of the particular family and society into which we
were conceived and born. Those who have obtained, whether
spontaneously or through intentional divination, a sense of their
life vision or mission, usually find it easier to disengage themselves
from unhealthy, useless or distracting situations or relationships
and focus their energy on realizing their soul’s highest purpose.
This is how we can understand the meaning of the ancient
Zen koan, “What was your original face before you were born?”
A koan is a divinatory question that the Zen Buddhist teacher
would give a student to stimulate their inner questioning - and
was not necessarily to be answered. The concept of “face”
symbolizes the direction of intention, as in - “which direction
are you facing?” Thus, I would translate this koan as follows, and
recommend it for the reader’s meditation and reflection: What
was — and still is -your soul’s vision for this life?
When tuning in to the communion of three souls (father,
mother, child) we may also come into contact with the ancestral
soul council. This is a larger group (usually about ten or twelve)
of beings including grand-parents, elders, teachers and angelic
spirit-guides, who are our spiritual support team and counselors
throughout our incarnated life and in the Spirit World beyond.
It is not uncommon for individuals to recognize their life-partner
in this soul group that was present at the time of incarnational
choice. This discovery gives meaning to the feeling and thought
lovers may have when they first meet - that they were “meant to
be together.”
Some of the beings in our spiritual soul family and council
are individuals with whom we may have had connections in
other lifetimes, in different relationships. Recognizing the extra

106
emotional charge from such past-life connections is often helpful
in gaining perspective and compassion for current difficulties.
Sexual transgression from a parent toward a child may sometimes
be due to a kind of “bleed-through” of erotic feelings from
another life where the two were lovers or spouses — which is not
in any way to excuse the perpetrator or minimize the damage
such transgressions cause.
As we come to recognize and consciously attune and com
mune with the council of ancestral souls and angelic spirit beings
who were present at the beginning of our incarnation, we will
also recognize them as the council that meets with us for the
non-judgmental life-review after our discarnation - when we have
“shuffled off this mortal coil.”

Future Divination with the Tree of Visions

Shamanic traditions and modern research in remote viewing

agree that with “non-local awareness” we can as readily “see” the
future as the hidden present or the past. The following scenario
illustrates how a simple shift in perspective allows us to transcend
the local space-time framework. Imagine you are driving along
a winding mountain road, where you cant see what’s coming
around the next curves. Now imagine you are able to adopt a
bird’s-eye view from a couple of hundred feet up in the air: now
the winding road lies in plain sight, and you can see into the
future of the driver below. Notice that you are seeing probabilities
and not predicting - you may see a yellow truck the driver will
likely encounter a couple of turns further down the road, but
you cannot say for certain what the nature of the encounter
will involve. Nor does seeing the lines of future probability and

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 possibility detract from so-called “free will.” On the contrary by
anticipating future conditions we are able to make better choices,
to avoid mistakes and dangers, and to move toward realizing our
purpose.
Envisioning the future involves a similar double movement of
awareness as does the memory divination to the past. In this case,
in order to divine probable future states of our life-world, we rise
with awareness to the top of the energy-field, which corresponds
to the crown of our world tree. From that high perspective we
identify the most probable line of development, use that line
to track to a future time of our life-world, and then bring the
impressions gathered back to the present for integration. In the
following exercise, we will look five years ahead - which will allow
us to use the changed appearance of small children in our life-
world as a kind of internal consistency test. Again, I suggst you
arrange a quiet place and time free from distractions for about
20-30 minutes; and listen to a recording of rhythmic drumming
or rattling to facilitate concentration.

Calm and center your mind and align with thefour directions
and the spirits ofthe local place and time.
Formulate your intention or question for the divination — to
identify the probable changes in your life-world ofrelations in five
years time.
Ignite the light-fire energy-sun in the center ofyour heart-field,
letting the purifying action spread out spherically, and invoke the
Presence ofyour Higher Self-Spirit, staying centered in an attitude of
empathic observation.

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 Invoke the spirits ofNature, from the animal, plant and mineral
realm, to guide and assist you. For this kind ofclairvoyant divination,
it's especially useful to invoke the assistance ofa far-seeing bird spirit
ally, such as Eagle, Hawk or Raven.
Invoke the spirits ofyour human relations, yourfamilial ancestors,
your teachers, mentors and gurus (whether living or in the spirit
world), as well as any deities with whom you have affinity.
While staying centered with your main focus of awareness in the
heart-field, send a strand ofperception vertically upward to luhere
you sense the upper rim ofyour energy-field (approximately 10-15
feet above your head). Circle around, scanning your present body and
location and the web ofrelations constituting your life-world. Note
that in front ofwhere your body is situated there are a number of
pathways radiating out, some clearer, wider and brighter than others.
While scanning these pathways identify the strongest or clearest and
immediately lock onto that one — analogously to scanning the radio
frequency dial, and selecting the station with the best signal-to-noise
ratio.
Staying on thatfrequency timeline, begin movingforward, with
intention, to five years from the present. Like a bird circling down for
a closer look, ask to know or see the place where you are. Ifyou don't
recognize the place, ask what place it is; ifyou don't get a place name,
ask to see or know what kind ofplace it is (e.g. indoor city, outdoor
wilderness, seashore, etc...)
Ask to know and/or see what kind ofwork or activity you are
engaged in. Note the impressions you are getting and intend to
remember them, but don't let your attention wander offinto analyzing,
interpreting or criticizing yourselffor assumed inadequacy.

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 Ask to see the close human relations in your life, especially any
children — iftheir appearance is changed you will know that you
are seeing them as five years older (whereas adults may not look
that different). If there is someone close to you in your world in five
years that you don’t recognize, you can ask who it is and what your
relationship is with that person.
You may also ask to see or know more about your family, your
community, the larger society and the world. Simply ask, note the
answer you’re receiving, or that you’re not getting an answer at this
time, and move on. You’re gathering impressions and storing them in
memory, the way a bird might gather twigs for its nest.
When that process feels complete, return to your present life-
world, carrying the gathered impressions with you. Give thanks to
all the spirits which guided and accompanied you. Descendfrom the
crown ofyour tree ofvision to center yourselfagain completely in the
heart-field. Feel the essencesfrom those visions spread throughoutyour
being- your present mental and emotional state, and your physical
body from head to feet.
Communicate your observations, either speaking to a friend or
writing in yourjournal, as you integrate these probable and possible
visions into your present life-ivorld and self-system.

As with the well of memory, the image of the crown of the tree
facilitates the divination, and in time and with practice becomes
unnecessary. The basic process, with both kinds of divination, is
(1) to ask to know, feel or sense, thereby putting ourselves in recep
tive mode; (2) to note or become aware of what it is were receiving
or perceiving - whether thoughts, images, feelings, sensations; and
(3) to translate what was received or perceived into verbal or pictorial
form for communication and integration.

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 In the Alchemical Divination workshops, the process is facilitated
by having one person (the guide) verbalize the instructions and
questions, while the other (the seeker) focuses on their inner
perceptions and verbalizes the answers being received or channelled.
As in shamanic journeywork, tracking and concentration is
facilitated by having the guide give a moderately rapid rhythmic
beat with a rattle or drum.
The visions of our possible future received in these divinations
come to us as gifts from the higher spiritual realms of being, in
response to our intention and questioning. They may help us
solve problems we are carrying from the past, by showing us
probable outcomes and resolutions of difficulties, or by offering
alternative courses of action (the “course-correction” vision). They
can show us how certain relations and situations may evolve,
providing us with encouragement to make healthful choices
and inspiration to realize our highest aspirations. In contrast to
the remote viewing paradigm, where the intention is to view
non-local objects or situations while neutralizing personal bias or
beliefs, the divination paradigm is focused on providing healing
and guidance for our evolving self-system and life-world, using
heightened and purified awareness.
As we practice conscious divination for ourselves we also
become more skilled at assisting others in their divinations. The
focus of our questioning can expand to include our family, our
community, our society and our world. Here the divination
process begins to resemble what in traditional societies was called
prophecy or the oracular function. I have become convinced
through my own experience that while some individuals, whom
we call “psychics,” may be naturally gifted at clairvoyant seeing
(perhaps from genetic predisposition), the potential is naturally

111
 latent within all - and can be developed through consciousness-
raising meditative practice.
There is one difference between our relation to the past and to
the possible future, which are otherwise symmetrical and equally
accessible to divinatory seeing. This is expressed in the difference
between the concepts of fate and destiny. Fate, like karma, is con
cerned with what has been spoken or done, the debts and guilt
incurred, the inevitable consequences of past actions, in this life
or another. Destiny (as the linguistic connection to “destination”
implies) is our open-ended future, the souls vision for this life
that we may, or may not, realize.
The most expansive and far-reaching future visioning occurs
when we connect with the council of ancestral souls and guiding
spirits. As we’re given deepening awareness of our soul’s vision
for this life, we come to recognize where in our lives we’ve been
on track to realize that vision, and where we’ve lost our way and
become distracted by useless illusions and obsessions. From the
perspective of our spiritual intelligence and guidance, we begin to
see the course of our life in a complete arc: from the incarnational
choice before conception, through birth and the formative years,
the middle years and the elder years, weaving and re-weaving
karmic patterns with the parental generation behind us and our
children’s generation ahead of us.
Expanding consciousness with intention increases our
freedom and ability to make choices in accord with our spiritual
guidance and our soul’s vision. From this perspective we come to
know and accept the certainty that all the roads we travel in life
end with our death - and that this dying is merely the transition
to another realm of being in which our souls continue the cosmic
game of learning and growing, on this Earth and in infinite other
worlds in the great Universe.

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 To the reader —
It is my sincere wish that you may find the invocations, light-
fire meditations and divinations described in this book useful in
your life and enriching for your spiritual practice. You may want
to experiment with applying the basic techniques in your own life
situations, formulating the appropriate divinatory questions for
problem solving and guidance.

* *

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114
 Appendix
The Three Chambers or Essence-Fields
and the Energy-Centers

The Sanskrit word chakra means “wheel” and refers to the circular
form of the centers, which may be perceived as elliptical disks, like gal
axies. They are also calledpadmas, which means “lotus flower,” having
different numbers of petals or segments. These flower petals are then
said to gradually open and unfold as the purifying action of the fire
burns off the obstructions that throttle the life-energy coming through
the centers.
My own preferred metaphor for the energy centers is to think
of them as leases - omnidirectional perceptual lenses. Each of the cen
ters functions as a kind of eye - the eye of the heart that gazes with
compassion, the solar plexus eye, the eye extension of the mid-brain
center, called the “third eye.” These lenses can “see” in all directions
of space and time, as well as into the inner, higher-frequency worlds.
Clairvoyance (“clear seeing”) results as these perceptual lenses are
cleansed of cataract-like obstructions by the purifying fires. They are the
“doors of perception” of which William Blake wrote that “if they are
cleansed, everything will appear as it is - Infinite.” These chakra lenses
are also like the magnifying lenses of our childhood, which we used
to focus sun-light and ignite a spark of fire in dry wood or paper. By
focusing the light energy through the lens of perceptual attention on a
particular obstructed area of the body, we magnify the consuming fire
aspect of the energy for purification.
There is a body of New Age literature which refers to “the seven
chakras” in a uniform way, but it should be noted that there are several
and diverse formulations of the number, location and function of the
energy-centers both in Eastern yogic traditions and in Western literature
by esotericists and energy healers. It appears that much of the Indian,
Chinese and Tibetan literature on yoga was first translated by language
scholars, who often did not have direct experience of the practices. It
also seems likely that different strands of the yogic traditions, at differ
ent periods in their history, emphasized one or another of these ways
of working with spiritual energies. There is agreement that the energy-
centers function as transducers ofhigh-frequency energies from inner

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 spiritual/cosmic source that distribute these energies omnidirectionally
throughout the body and energy-field. The high-frequency energies
naturally associated with each center differ in color and thus function -
but any of the color-frequencies can be channeled, from their centers,
anywhere into the body and environment, as needed.
In the following, I am going to list here the nature and function of
the centers as I learned them in the Actualism School, and have con
firmed them from my own study and practice thus far, while affirming
that this is an area of evolving research and understanding. (Different
texts number the centers from the top down, or from below upwards -
so I will instead describe them by location). Also, each center, aligned
along the central vertical axis, usually has four sub-centers, in front and
back, and to the left and right sides.

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 Energy-Centers of the Upper Chamber
or Head Essence-Field

The Star Center, located a hands-length or six inches above the top
of the head. Being out of the physical body, it is less obstructed than
those in the body. It serves as a kind of way-station for connecting the
personal with the higher-frequency realms of Spirit.
The Crown Center, located at the crown of the head, is known in the
Indian yoga traditions as the “thousand-petal lotus” (sahasrara). We are
told that under ordinary conditions only three or four of these thousand
petals are open and active - indicating the vast potentials of expanding
consciousness. The energy of this center is uplifting and supports the
transformation of body and personality to higher frequencies.
The Midbrain Center; midway between left and right, front and
back, is the center for the wisdom energy of the higher, intuitive mind.
The front sub-center, located between the eye-brows, is called the “third
eye” of clairvoyant inner vision and insight.
The Throat Center, connected with the thyroid glands and vocal
chords, supports all creative expression, in whatever form, including
speech, singing, writing, visual arts, dramatic arts, music, etal, always
balancing the receptive with the dynamic poles.

Energy-Centers of the Cave of the Heart

or Heart Essence-Field

The Thymus Center, located at the thymus gland, between the

shoulders, functions to support the expression of the good will of the
Higher, Immortal Spirit-Self. This function is consistent with the role
of the thymus gland in supporting immune system health; and with
the ancient Greek notion that thumos was the courage of the heart.
Schofield stated that bringing through the energy of this center was one
distinctive feature of the present new age of planetary evolution.
The Heart Center, midway between the breasts, is the focus of
emotional relations, as well as the maintenance of structures and rela
tionship lines at every level - the healing feeling energy of the Inner
Healer. The left side of the chest and physical heart embodies the
receptive pole of emotional relations, where we “take things to heart,”

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 whereas the right side of the chest with the liver is the physical focus of
the dynamic projecting and broadcasting of emotional energy.
The Solar Plexus Center located 3” below the heart center, at the tip
of the sternum, is also associated with the Inner Healer, particularly the
energizing and vitalizing of the nervous system and all forms of sense
perception, internal and external. This center is traditionally known as a
kind of antenna for the perception of subtle energies.

Energy-Centers of the Cauldron

or Abdominal-Pelvic Essence-Field

The Organizational Center, located just above the navel, is called

the secret or spiritual heart center, and is the center for the conscious,
inclusive, ordering, harmonizing love energy (contrasting with the more
personal feeling love energy of the heart center). It is called rnanipura
(“city of jewels”) in the Indian yoga chakra system.
The Navel Center, focus of self-absorbed contemplation according
to folklore, was referred to by Schofield as the place of the mythical
“Gordian knot” - a famously tangled complex, the dissolving of which
promised liberation from all past entanglements. Considering that the
navel is the place where nutrient-rich blood, packed with genetic
material, flows from the placenta into the fetus during the pre-natal
phase, this mythic symbolism has an undeniable plausibility.
The Abdominal Center; located 3" below the navel, is a center for
movement, instinctual metabolic processes and regeneration. Called the
hara center in Japanese, it is the main focus of postural awareness in the
martial arts disciplines such as aikido. (I believe that the placement of
sexuality in this center, found in some writings, is a mistaken hold-over
from Victorian era scholarly translators of Indian texts. It is not found
in the writings of Sri Aurobindo, nor in the Buddhist tantras, nor in
Taoist writings).
The Sacral or Root Center, located at the perineum and called
muladhara (“earth-rooted”) in the Indian system, is the focal center for
generative energy, the broad-spectrum life-force that generates new cells
by the millions every second of our lives, and of which reproductive
sexuality is one band. In both in the Indian Tantric and Chinese Taoist
yoga traditions this serpentine generative energy, called kundalini, is

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raised upward to nourish and vitalize the structures and functions of the
heart and head essence-fields above.

Energy-Centers of the Legs and Feet

Since the human body is a three-part alchemical furnace on legs,

there are additional energy-centers located between the thighs, between
the knees, between the calves, between the feet and six inches below the
feet. These energy-centers of the legs, each with four respective sub
centers, are all in various ways associated with movement intelligence -
the power to move, the ivill to move, the desire to move, both externally
and internally. As high-frequency light-energy is increasingly brought
down into and through these centers, the choices we make in moving
through the world become increasingly aligned with our higher spiritual
purpose. The energy-center between the feet is particularly concerned
with earthing and grounding understanding - with knowing where we
stand and standing on what we know. The energy-center six inches below
thefeet, like the one above the head, is concerned with coordinating
local body awareness and non-local, out-of-body awareness. There are
also energy-centers 150 feet above the head and 1 50 feet below the feet
- these are centers used in planetary energy-work.

The Three Essence-fields in Chinese Taoism

In Chinese Taoist alchemy and yoga the three chambers are called
tan t’ien, C‘elixir fields” or “essence-fields”) and the essences associated
with them the “Three Treasures.” Ching is the energy essence of the
pelvic cauldron, and is experienced as fluid and hot; Chi is the energy
essence of the heart tan t’ien, and is experienced as electrical and spar
kling; and Shen, the energy of the cranial tan t’ien is experienced as a
whitish upward floating vapor. According to the Taoist teachings, at the
time of death of the physical body, the ching energy drains down and
out, the chi energy disperses, and the shen energy floats up out of the
body. A core practice ofTaoist alchemical yoga, called the “circulation
of the light,” (or the “microcosmic orbit” by Mantak Chia) consists of
directing the energy-essence down the front of the body, through the
perineum and up the back of the body, and over the top of the head,
to complete a circuit that integrates the three essence-fields. This kind

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 of practice of blending and consolidating the three energy-essences
counters the dispersing and separating tendencies of ageing and dying,
and thus furthers the immortality or longevity projects of the Taoist
alchemists.

Association with the three somatotypes

The American physician and medical researcher William Sheldon

developed a constitutional typology, encompassing both body type and
characteristic personality traits, for which he collected an impressive body
of evidence and measurement. The biological basis of his theory were the
three tissue layers of embryonic development and the organ systems to
which they give rise: the first, innermost layer is the endoderm, which
develops into the intestines and digestive system; the second, middle
layer, the mesoderm, develops into the muscular and circulatory sys
tem; and the third, outermost layer, or ectoderm, develops into skin
and nervous system. In Sheldon’s model, the endomorphic body type,
rounded and gut-dominant, is associated with a phlegmatic tempera
ment - easy-going, earthy, relatively passive and permissive. The
mesomorphic body type, muscular in men, voluptuous in women, is
associated with a heart-dominant, sanguine temperament - dynamic,
athletic, optimistic and cheerful. The ectomorphic body type, thin and
angular, is associated with a cerebral temperament - introverted, sensitive,
nervous and detached. We can see how this constitutional typology relates
to the three essence-fields: in the endomorphic type, personal awareness
is focused in gut-level experience and receptivity; in the mesomorphic
sanguine type, the personality is focused in the emotional awareness of
the heart-field; and in the ectomorphic cerebral type, it is focused in
sensory experience and the thinking functions of the cranial essence-
field.

Association with kinds of animal spirit allies-

mammals, birds and reptiles.

For practitioners of shamanism, the three essence-fields can also be

correlated with different kinds of animal spirit allies for which they have
an affinity or predilection. Through the heart-field, with its associated

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limbic, emotional, mammalian brain system, we have a particular
affinity for our mammal relatives, whether the four-legged terrestrial
kind or the marine mammals like whales, dolphins, otters, seals and the
like. Mammalian spirit allies can be particularly helpful in helping us
human mammals deal with birth trauma and difficulties with move
ment, as well as the dynamics of predator-prey, perpetrator-victim
relationships. Through the head-brain chamber we are particularly
connected to flying animals: hunting birds, like hawks and eagles, with
their far-seeing vision; song birds, from whom, it is believed, humans
first learned language; and flying insects, with their delicate and hyper
sensitive antenna systems. Through the pelvic-abdominal cauldron and
the associated older gut-brain system, as well as the generative kundalini
energy, we have a particular affinity with the serpents and other reptiles,
with their ancient earth wisdom and vital generative force.

Association with astrological indicators-

Sun, Ascendant and Moon.

Students and practitioners of astrology will also recognize the asso

ciation between the three essence-fields and the three main personality
indicators or determinants in the natal horoscope - the Sun Sign, Moon
Sign and Ascendant or Rising Sign. The zodiacal sign placement of the
Sun and planets in close aspect to it, is considered a symbolic indicator
of the person's basic emotional stance in life, and is thus associated with
the heart essence-field. The zodiacal rising sign and planets conjunct the
ascendant, are thought to be symbolic indicators of qualities the person
is trying to develop in life, the public persona they show to the world,
their “up-front’' conscious aims and values; therefore we can associate
the Rising Sign symbolism with the head-field. The zodiacal sign place
ment of the Moon, as well as planets in close aspect to it, are said to
be indicative of maternal and body consciousness, of primal feelings
and instinctual awareness, and thus connected with the Cauldron. For
devotees of the astrological symbolic language, these correlations, and
the “elements” of the zodiac placement of these three indicators may
provide further insights into the qualitative color and tone of the three
chambers of the body and personality energy-systems.

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 Association with different kinds of
psychedelic/entheogenic substances

Although the primary determinants of a psychedelic experience

are the set (intention) and setting (context), some slight differences
between the main classes have been observed and can be related to the
three essence-fields. The phenethylamines, which include peyote and the
cuchuma cactus, and the drugs called “empathogenic,” such as MDMA
or Ecstasy, exert primary opening and deepening action on emotional
awareness/empathy, and thus the heart essence-field.
The tryptamines, which include the psilocybe mushrooms, LSD,
ibogaine, as well as DMT and its various derivatives, seem to exert their
activity primarily in the visual, cognitive and language centers of the
brain, with relatively minimal somatic involvement, and thus the head-
brain essence-field.
The Amazonian ayahuasca tea, which combines a tryptamine-con-
taining plant with the banisteriopsis vine, affects the higher brain centers
and the abdominal enteric nervous system, stirring up old connections
in the instinctual, sexual and metabolic centers from which comes the
characteristic combined effect of purgation and healing insight.
Cannabis acts differently according to the mode of ingestion: when
smoked it enters via the lungs into the blood-stream and brain. Thus
the effect is felt primarily in the heart- and head-field; according to
Tantra Yoga, “upward moving.” When taken in edible form, cannabis
essence enters via the digestive system, flowing through the heart-field
and abdominal cauldron, or “downward moving,” according to Tantra
Yoga teachings.

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 NOTES AND REFERENCES

1 Shamanism, Yoga and Alchemy

Shamanism
Eliade, Mircea. Shamanism - Archaic Techniques ofEcstasy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press, 1969.
Harner, Michael. The Way ofthe Shaman. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1980.
Ingerman, Sandra. Soul Retrieval. HarperSanFrancisco, 1991.
Halifax, Joan. Shaman - Use Wounded Healer. London: Thames & Hudson, 1982.
Ripinsky-Naxon, Michael. 7he Nature ofShamanism. Albany, NY; SUNY Press, 1993.
Hoppal, Mihaly. Schamanen andSchamanismus. Augsburg: Pattloch Verlag, 1994.
Lommcl, Andreas. Shamanism - The Beginnings ofArt. NY: McGraw-Hill, 1967.
Yoga
Eliade, Mircea. Yoga - Immortality and Freedom. Princeton University Press, 1969.
Satchitananda, Sri Swami. Yoga Sutras ofPatanjali. Yogaville, VA: Integral Yoga Publi
cations, 1978. The Sanskrit text, with literal translation and commentaries.
Feuerstein, Georg. The Shambhala Encyclopedia of Yoga. Boston: Shambhala, 2000.
Feuerstein, Georg & Miller, Jeanine. The Essence of Yoga - Essays on the Development of
Yogic Philosophy. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions, 1998.

Mishra, Rammurti. Yoga Sutras: Textbook of Yoga Psychology. Garden City, NJ: Anchor
Books, 1963.
Taimni, I.K. The Science of Yoga. Wheaton, III.: Thcosophical Publishing House, 1961.
White, Ganga. Yoga Beyond Belief- Insights to Awaken and Deepen Your Practice.
Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books, 2007.
Alchemy
Eliade, Mircea. 7he Forge and the Crucible. New York: Harper &C Row, 1962.
C.G. Jung. Aion (CW9). Princeton University Press, 1953.
--------- Psychology and Alchemy (CW 12). Princeton University Press, 1953.
--------- Alchemical Studies (CW 13). Princeton University Press, 1967.
--------- Mysterium Coniunctionis (CW 14). Princeton University Press, 1970.
Edinger, Edward. Anatomy of the Psyche. La Salle, 111: Open Court Publishing, 1985.
Klossowski de Rola, Stanislas. U>e Golden Game. NY: George Braziller, 1988.
Metzner, Ralph. Maps of Consciousness. NY: Macmillan, 1971.

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--------- The Unfolding Self. Novato, CA: Origin Press, 1998.
--------- The Expansion of Consciousness. Berkeley, CA: Green Earth Foundation &
Regent Press, 2008.
Shamanism and Alchemy - A Conversation between Michael Harner and Ralph
Metzner. (CD recording available from Green Earth Foundation)
Actualism (Agni Yoga)
Note: The Agni Yoga light-fire practices taught in the School of Actualism are distinct
and different from the Agni Yoga philosophy expounded in a series of books, pub
lished in the 1930s, by the Russian-born artist and mystic Nicholas Roerich.
Metzner, Ralph. Maps of Consciousness. New York: Macmillan, 1971.
------- Know Your Type. Garden City, NY: Anchor Books, 1979.
Schofield, Russell Paul & Carol Ann. Basic Principles ofActualism. Solana Beach, CA:
Actualism Trust, 1986/1993.

2 What is Divination?
divination and science
Sheldrake, Rupert. The Presence ofthe Past - Morphic Resonance and the Habits ofNature.
New York: Times Books, 1988. Sheldrake shows how natural laws can best be un
derstood as a function of morphogenetic fields extending over space and time.
multiple intelligences
Gardner, Howard. Frames ofMind; The Theory ofMultiple Intelligences. New York:
Basic Books, 1993- The basic statement by the author of the theory.
Armstrong, Thomas. 7 Kinds ofSmart - Identifying and Developing Your Many Intelli
gences. New York: Penguin Plume Books, 1993. A good introduction, especially for
parents and educators, with suggestions for developing the various abilities.
Goleman, Daniel. Emotional Intelligence. New York: Bantam books, 1993.
------- Social Intelligence. New York: Bantam Dell, 2006.
psychoactive plants in shamanic divination
Harner, Michael (ed). Hallucinogens and Shamanism. Oxford University Press, 1973.
Luna, Luis Eduardo and Amaringo, Pablo. Ayahuasca Visions: The Religious Iconography
ofa Peruvian Shaman. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books, 1991.

Schultes, Richard Evans and Hofmann, Albert. Plants ofthe Gods: Their Sacred, Healing
and Hallucinogenic Powers. Rochester, VT: Healing Arts Press, 1992.

Grob, Charles (ed). Hallucinogens - A Reader. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher, 2002.

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Metzner, Ralph (ed). Sacred Vine ofSpirits - Ayahuasca. Rochester, VT: Park Srreet
Press, 1999/2006.
------Sacred Mushroom of Visions - Teonandcatl. Rochester, VT: Park Street Press,
2004.
therapeutic regression, hypnotherapy and holotropic therapy
Erickson, Milton H. and Rossi, Ernest, L. Hypnotherapy: An Exploratory Casebook.
New York: Irvington, 1979.
Erickson, Milton H. My Voice Will Go With You - Teaching Tales. New York: W.W.
Norton &c Co., 1982. Little vignettes that give a flavor of the master healer’s
methods.
Herman, Judith Lewis. Trauma and Recovery. New York: Basic Books, 1992. The
best book I know on the subject of trauma and how it can be healed.
Grof, Stanislav. Beyond the Brain - Birth, Death and Transcendence in Psychotherapy.
Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1985.
Lucas, Winafred Blake (ed). Regression Therapy — A Handbookfor Professionals (2
vols). Crest Park, CA: Deep Forest Press, 1982. A comprehensive compilation
covering childhood, birth, past-lives, possession states and more.
remote viewing, esp and quantum entanglement
Targ, Russell. Do You See What I See? Charlottesville, VA: Hampton Roads, 2008.
------Limitless Mind. Novato, CA: New World Library, 2004.
Radin, Dean. The Conscious Universe. San Francisco: HarperEdge, 1997.
------Entangled Minds. New York: Paraview Pocket Books, 2006.
traditional divination and mythology
Metzner, Ralph. The Well ofRemembrance - Rediscovering the Earth Wisdom Myths of
Northern Europe. Boston: Shambhala, 1994. In this book I discuss the stories and
poems concerning the well of memory, but I did not at the time fully understand
that the myths actually contain coded references to several divination methods.
Davidson, H.R. Ellis. Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe. Syracuse U. P., 1988; esp.
the chapter on “Destiny and Foreknowledge.”
Simek, Rudolf. Lexikoti dergermanischen Mythologie. Stuttgart: Alfred Kroner Verlag,
1984. A comprehensive and compact reference work on Germanic mythology.
Graves, Robert. Greek Myths. London: Cassell, 1958. The great poet’s unsurpassed
masterpiece on Greek mythology.
Moody, Raymond. REUNIONS - Visionary Encounters with Departed Loved Ones.
New York: Villard Books, 1993.

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the moly plant and memory
The plant called moly in Homers Odyssey has only recently (after more than 2500
years) been identified as Galanthus nivalis, the common snowdrop. An extract from
this plant - galantamine, or its synthetic equivalent, is used in the treatment of
memory loss in senile dementias, where the individual often cannot remember their
identity or recognize their human relatives. Circe’s spell may have been induced by
a concoction of dissociative nightshade hallucinogens. (Plaitakis, A. & Duvoisin,
R.C. “Homers moly identified as Galanthus nivalis L.: physiologic antidote to
stramonium poisoning. ” Clin. Neuropharmacol., 1983:6, 1-5.)

3 - The Seven Phases of Divination Rituals

invocations
My booklet Invocations is available from the Green Earth Foundation website.
spirits of place and time
Metzner, Ralph. Green Psychology. Rochester, VT: Park Street Press, 1999. In chapter
12, “The Place and the Story,” I discuss the traditional spirit of place concept in
relation to the bioregionalism idea. I proposed that: the concept of place particular
izes the abstract notion of space, the way story particularizes the abstraction time.
animal spirits
Michael Hamer’s The Way of the Shaman has an excellent chapter on “power animals”
in shamanic practice.
Shaman — The paintings ofSusan Seddon Boulet (San Francisco: Pomegranate Artbooks,
1989). Susan Boulet’s shamanistic paintings, collected in this volume, provide
extraordinarily beautiful portrayals of the subtle and empathic merging of human
and animal consciousness that is the heart of shamanism.
In my book The Unfolding Self chapter 9, “Integrating the Inner Wild Animal,” I
discuss connecting with our evolutionary animal ancestry as one of the key
processes of psychospiritual growth.
Shepard, Paul. Thinking Animals — Animals and the Development of Human Intel
ligence. New York: Viking Press, 1978.

------- The Others — How Animals Made us Human. Washington, D.C.: Island Press,
1996. Paul Shepard’s work on the way our perception of animals shapes our reality
and our consciousness is profound and far-reaching.
Lauck, Suzanne. The Voice of the Infinite in the Small - Re-visioning the Insect-Human
Connection. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2002. This wonderful book draws on
scientific ecology and indigenous myths to help us re-think our relationship with
the much-maligned world of insects.

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Sams, Jamie & Carson, David. Medicine Cards - The Discovery ofPower Through the
Ways ofAnimals. Santa Fe, NM: Bear & Co. 1988. This book and the accompany
ing deck of cards has much Native American folklore concerning animals and their
role as our spiritual teachers. It is a popular divination system analogous to the
many versions of the Tarot. It should be clearly understood that reading animal
symbolism from a divination card system is fundamentally different than establish
ing a direct spiritual relationship with an animal spirit through shamanic journey
practices.
plant and other nature spirits
In my book Green Psychology, 1 discuss elemental spirits in chapter 2, "Gaia's Alche
my,” and earth and vegetation deities in chapter 9 “The Black Goddess, the Green
God, and the Wild Human.”
Tompkins, Peter. The Secret Life ofNature - Living in Harmony with the Hidden World
ofNature Spirits font Fairies to Quarks. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1997. Eso
teric teachings and visionary science on nature spirits.
Harpignies, J.P. (ed). Visionary Plant Consciousness - The Shamanic Teachings of the
Plant World. Rochester, VT: Park Street Press, 2007. A collection of talks and essays
from the Bioneers Conferences.
Buhner, Stephen Harrod Buhner. The Lost Language of Plants - The Ecological Impor
tance ofPlant Medicines to Life on Earth. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green
Publishing, 2002.
Roads, Michael. Talking with Nature. Tiburon, CA: H.J.Kramer, 1985.
Tiburon, CA: H.J.Kramer, 1990. Michael Roads is an
--------- Journey into Nature.
Australian writer who describes a series of extraordinary teaching encounters with
spirits of animals, plants, minerals and water.

4 - Alchemical Yoga of Fire

subtle energies, consciousness and cosmology
Tiller, William. Science and Human Transformation - Subtle Energies, Intentionality and
Consciousness. Walnut Creek, CA: Pavior Publishing. 1997. A Stanford professor of
materials science. Tiller offers unique theory and experiments to demonstrate the
interaction between conscious intention and matter.
Fagg, Lawrence. Electromagnetism and the Sacred-At the Frontier ofSpirit and Matter.
New York: Continuum Publishing Co., 1999. Fagg is a physicist who connects the
ubiquity of electromagnetism in nature to the immanence of the divine.
Schwartz, Gary E.R. & Russek, Linda G.S. The Living Energy Universe. Charlottesville,
VA: Hampton Roads Publishing Co., 1999. The authors have formulated an integra
tive theory of all evolving dynamic systems constituting Universal Living Memory.

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Laszlo, Ervin. Science and the Akashic Field - An Integral theory ofEverything. Roch
ester, VT: Inner Traditions, 2004. Provides an integration of the ancient idea of
akasha, the universal conscious field, with the latest ideas of the quantum vacuum.
Coats. Callum. Living Energies. Bath, UK: Gateway Books, 1996. An exposition of the
ideas and inventions of the Austrian scientist Victor Schauberger, who explored the
efficacy of flowing water as a source of free energy for purification and transporta
tion.
the human energy system and healing
Gerber, Richard (MD). Vibrational Medicine. Santa Fe, NM: Bear & Co., 1988.
Comprehensive guidebook on energetic medicine, covering homeopathy, flower
essences, acupuncture, crystals, radionics, therapeutic touch, electrotherapy and
more.
Chia, Mantak. Awaken Healing Energy Through the Tao. Santa Fe, NM: Aurora Press,
1983;
------Healing Light ofthe Tao. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions, 2008. Mantak Chia,
is the leading exponent of the ancient Taoist energy practices for self-healing and
regeneration. He has also written extensively on the Taoist practices of extending
orgasm for sexual healing in men and women.
Hunt, Valerie. Infinite Mind - Science ofthe Human Vibrations of Consciousness. Mal
ibu, CA: Malibu Publishing Co., 1989. A pioneering study of the human energy-
fields, incorporating physical measurement and the observations of clairvoyants.
Laskow, Leonard (MD). Healing With Love - The Art of Holoenergctic Healing. San
Francisco: HarperCollins, 1992. An exposition of psychospiritual healing using
meditative practices, as well as work with breath and divining rods.
Shealey, Norman (MD). Sacred Healing - The Curing Power ofEnergy and Spirituality.
Boston: Element Books, 1999. World-renowned neurosurgeon and founder of the
Holistic Medicine Association here gives his insights concerning the centrality of
divine spirit in all healing.
Eden, Donna with Feinstein, David. Energy Medicine. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher,
1998. Coming out of the Touch for Health movement, a comprehensive guide to
using simple touch for mobilizing the body’s energy meridians for health and well
being.
Paul MacLean’s tri-une brain theory
The neurologist Paul MacLean proposed that our skull holds not one brain, but three,
each representing a distinct evolutionary stratum that formed upon the older layer
before it. He calls it the “triune brain.” MacLean, says that the three brains operate
like “three interconnected biological computers, [each] with its own special intel
ligence, its own subjectivity, its own sense of time and space and its own memory.”
He refers to these three brains as the neocortex or neo-mammalian brain, the limbic

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 or paleo-mammalian system, and the reptilian brain (brainstem and cerebellum). Each
of the three brains is connected by nerves to the other two, but each seems to operate
as its own brain system with distinct capacities. This hypothesis has become a very
influential paradigm, which has led to a rethinking of how the brain functions. It had
previously been assumed that the highest level of the brain, the neocortex, dominates
the other, lower levels. MacLean has shown that this is not the case, and that the
physically lower limbic system, which rules emotions, can and does hijack the higher
mental functions when it needs to.
The brain stem - reptilian brain. This includes the brain stem, medulla, pons,
cerebellum, mesencephalon, the basal nuclei and olfactory bulbs, and is the
oldest brain, in evolutionary terms. This brain controls muscles, balance and auto
nomic functions, such as breathing and heartbeat. It has the same type of archaic
behavioral programs as snakes, turtles and lizards. It is rigid, obsessive, compulsive,
ritualistic and territorial. It’s behavior is repetitive, with limited learning from past
experience. This part of the brain is always active, even in deep sleep.
The limbic system - mammalian brain. MacLean first coined the name “limbic system"
for the middle part of the brain, which he also termed the old mammalian brain -
it includes the hypothalamus, hippocampus, and amygdala. It corresponds to the
brain of most mammals, and especially the earlier ones. The limbic system maintains
emotion-charged memories and all new experience is judged as either “like” or “dis
like." For the limbic system, survival depends on avoidance oi pain and repetition
of pleasure. MacLeans most important discovery was that since the limbic system is
the seat of our feeling value judgments, not the more advanced neocortex, it decides
whether our higher brain has a “good" idea or not, whether it “feels” true and right.
The neocortex and cerebrum comprises the two hemispheres and some subcortical
neuronal groups. It corresponds to the brain of higher primates including homo
sapiens. The cognitive functions which most distinguish humans from animals are in
the neocortex. MacLean refers to the cortex as “the mother of invention and father
of abstract thought.” In humans the neocortex takes up two thirds of the total brain
mass, whereas in animals it is relatively small. The cortex is divided into left and right
hemispheres, the famous left and right brain. The left half of the cortex controls the
right side of the body and the right side of the brain the left side of the body. The
right brain is more spatial, abstract, musical and artistic, while the left brain more
linear, rational, and verbal.
MacLean, Paul. A Triune Concept of Brain and Behavior. Toronto: University of Toronto
Press, 1973.
--------- The triune brain in evolution: role in paleocerebralfunctions. New York: Plenum
Press, 1990.
Gardner, Russell and Cory, Gerald A. (2002). The evolutionary neuroethology of Paul
MacLean: convergences andfrontiers. New York: Praeger, 2002.

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abdominal brain or enteric nervous system
Gershon, Michael (MD). The Second Brain. A Groudbreaking New Understanding of
Nervous Disorders ofthe Stomach and Instestines. New York: Harper Perennial, 1998.
This important book describes the new understanding of the role of the enteric
nervous system, a network of 100 million neurons lining the inside and outside of
the gut. Like the familiar sympathetic and parasympathetic systems, this neural
system is autonomic, i.e. not subject to control from the brain in the head. Whereas
the main chemical neurotransmitter for the sympathetic system is norepinephrine
and for the parasympathetic system acetylcholine, the enteric system functions with
serotonin, which is the neurotransmitter probably involved with emotional balance
(un-depressed and un-anxious).
These findings give gives new meaning to the concepts of “gut-level knowledge”
and “intestinal fortitude.” They also are suggestively congruent with the peculiar
association between insight and intestinal purging found with the South American
divinatory plant concoction ayahuasca.
Although Gershon does not say this, in an evolutionary sense this nervous system is
the oldest, and therefore should more accurately be called the first brain, rather
than the second. We might hypothesize that the enteric nervous system in the gut
evolved in conjunction with what MacLean calls the reptilian brainstem in the
head, which is also particularly rich in serotonergic neurons.

5 - Life-World and Self-System

life-world and interbeing
von Eckartsberg, Rolf. Life-World Experience - Existential-Phenomenological Research
Approaches in Psychology. Washington, DC: Center for Advanced Research in Phe
nomenology and University Press of America, 1986.
Thich Nhat Hanh, who has authored numerous books on Buddhist mindfulness medi
tation, has established a Buddhist monastic lineage called the Order ofInterbeing,
with teaching and practice centers in many countries.
indigenous language and the natural world
Abram, David. Ti)e Spell of the Sensuous - Perception and language in a more-than-
human world. New York: Pantheon Books, 1996. Coming from the phenomeno
logical philosophy of Edmund Husserl and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, philosopher
and magician Abram weaves a wondrous synthesis of ecology, animism, psychology
and history.
Prechtcl, Martin. Secrets of the Talking Jaguar. New York: Tarcher/Putnam, 1998.
------- Long Life, Honey in the Heart. New York: Tarcher/Putnam, 1999.
------- The Toe Bone and the Tooth. London: Thorsons/ HarperCollins, 2002.

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Martin Prechtel was born on an Indian reservation of mixed European and indigenous
heritage, and spent thirteen years in Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala, becoming initiated
and practicing as a Mayan shaman and ceremonialist, before being forced by civil war
to return to the US. These three elegant and eloquent books chronicle his extraordi
nary adventures and provide unparalleled insights into the indigenous mind, language
and the shamanistic worldview.
family systems and the work of Bert Hellinger
Hellinger, Bert. Love's Hidden Symmetry - What Makes Love Work in Relationships.
Phoenix, AZ: Zeig, Tucker & Co., 1998. The best English language exposition of
Hcllinger’s work with family constellations.
------- Acknowledging What Is - Conversations. Phoenix, AZ: Zeig, Tucker & Co., 1999.
In these conversations with a journalist, Hellinger explores the wider social implica
tions of his work in his characteristic provocative manner.
(translated and with
--------- On Life and Other Paradoxes - Aphorisms and Little Stories,
an introduction by Ralph Metzner). Phoenix, AZ: Zeig, Tucker & Co., 2002. The old
master’s philosophical side comes out in these Zen-like teaching stories and sayings.
the living systems paradigm and ecology'
Capra, Fritjof. The Web ofLife -A New Scientific Understanding ofLiving Systems. New
York: Anchor Books/Doubleday, 1996.
--------- The Hidden Connections - Integrating the biological, cognitive and social dimensions
oflife into a science ofsustainability. New York: Doubleday, 2002.

Laszlo, Ervin. The Connectivity Hypothesis - Foundations ofan integral science ofquantum,
cosmos, life, and consciousness. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2003.

Tucker, Mary Evelyn and Grim, John A. (eds). Worldviews and Ecology. Lewisburg, PA:
Bucknell University Press, 1993. A collection of essays on an ecological worldview by
scholars from various religious and philosophical traditions.
ecology, ecopsychology and spirituality
Roszak, Theodore. Tlte Voice of the Earth. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992.
Historian Roszaks pioneering linkage of ecology and psychology.
Roszak. Theodore, Gomes, Mary E. &t Kanner, Allen D. (eds). Ecopsychology - Restoring the
Earth, Healing the Mind. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1995.

Macy, Joanna. World as Lover, World as Self. Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press, 1991.
Macy, Joanna & Brown, Molly Young. Coming Back to Life - Practice s to Reconnect Our
Lives, Our World. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers, 1998.

Berry, Thomas. The Great Work - Our Way into the Future. New York: Bell Tower, 1999.
The eminent religious philosophers vision of humanity in celebration and cooperation
with the Earth.

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evolutionary cosmology and worldviews
Swimme, Brian and Berry, Thomas. The Universe Story - From the Primordial Flaring
Forth to the Ecozoic Era. A Celebration of the Unfolding of the Cosmos. Harper San
Francisco, 1992.
Sahtouris, Elizabeth. EarthDance - Living Systems in Evolution. Alameda, CA: Metalog
Books, 1996.
Korten, David. The Great Turning- From Empire to Earth Community. San Francisco:
Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2006.

6 - Stages of the Life-Cycle

mapping the stages of the human life cycle
Erikson, Erik. Identity and the Life Cycle. New York: Norton & Co, 1959/1980.
Erikson identifies a psychosocial identity crisis at each stage, from “basic trust vs
mistrust" of the neonatal infancy to “integrity vs despair" of old age.
Wade, Jenny. Changes ofMind-A Holonomic Tfjeory ofthe Evolution of Consciousness.
Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1996. Presents a comprehensive model of consciousness
development, including its probable neurological correlates, according to current
research, in eleven stages from the pre-natal to the post-mortem.
Armstrong, Thomas. The FIuman Odyssey. Navigating the Twelve Stages of Life. New
York: Sterling Publishing Co. 2007. From pre-birth and birth to dying and beyond
death, this work from an educational psychologist draws on a variety of literary,
ethnic and religious traditions to fashion an engaging narrative.
stages and brain development
An article in the Harvard Magazine (Sept/Oct 2008) on the work of Harvard neurolo
gists Frances E. Jensen and David K. Urion, states: “the brain is only about 80%
developed in adolescents. The largest part, the cortex, is divided into lobes that
mature from back to front. The last section to connect is the frontal lobe, respon
sible for cognitive processes such as reasoning, planning and judgment. Normally,
this mental merger is not completed until somewhere between ages 25 and 30 -
much later than these two neurologists were taught in medical school.”
astrology and the Saturn return
The literature on the cycles of Saturn in astrology is voluminous. A particularly clear
and useful discussion is in the following books by Robert Hand.
Hand, Robert. Planets in Transit - Life Cycles in Transit. Gloucester, MA: Pararesearch,
1976.
Gloucester, MA: Pararesearch, 1982. See especially the
------- Essays on Astrology.
chapter on “Crises of Human Growth.”

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 Appendix
the three essence- Helds in Chinese Taoism
Chia, Mantak. Awaken Healing Energy Through the Tao. Santa Fe, NM:
Aurora Press, 1983.
------- Healitig Light of the Tao. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions, 2008.
Rawson, Philip, and Legeza, Laszlo. 7>10- The Eastern Philosophy of Time and
Change. London: Thames and Hudson. 1973.

Sheldons three somatotypes

Mctzner, Ralph. “The Three Body Types" in Know Your Type. Garden City, NY: An
chor Press/Doubleday, 1979.
Hall, C.S. & Lindzey, G. “Sheldons Constitutional Psychology" in Tlwories of Per
sonality. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1970.

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 (green Fartfi ‘Foundation
harmonizing humanity witfi CEartf and Spirit

The Green Earth Foundation is an educational and research orga

nization dedicated to the healing and harmonizing of the relation
ships between humanity and the Earth, through a recognition of
the energetic and spiritual interconnectedness of all life-forms in
all worlds. Our strategic objectives are to help bring about changes
in attitudes, values, perceptions, and worldviews that are based on
ecological balance and respect for the integrity of all life. Our ar
eas of research interest include consciousness studies, shamanism
and Earth mythology, and green and eco-psychology. Green Earth
Foundation also sponsors the ‘Metzner ‘Afcfiemicaf ‘Divination®
training program.

Green Earth Founation

is producing and co-publishing a new series of books
by Ralph Metzner, Ph.D.

THE ECOLOGY OF CONSCIOUSNESS

1. The Expansion of Consciousness
2. The Roots of War and Domination
3. Alchemical Divination
4. Mind Space and Time Stream
3. The Life Cycle of the Human Soul
6. The Six Pathways of Destiny
7. Worlds Within and Worlds Beyond

The Green Earth Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, educational and research organi
zation. RO. Box 327, El Verano. CA 95433. Internet: www.greenearrhfound.org

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