An essay on the fundamental principles of operative occultism prepared by Manly P. Hall to accompany three oil paintings by Mihran K. Serailian

tionship are so essential. During this period of battle with self, the sincere student gets hold of the threads of his life and begins to make the adjustments necessary before the actual spiritual work can begin. It is not by destroying the lower nature that man becomes virtuous; it is by the transmutation and regeneration of every base quality and attitude that he achieves divinity. This gradual process of self-conquest ultimately brings the disciple to the state of complete self-control. From that point attainment is not so difficult, for having controlled self, he is the master of the universe.

All occultists know that true spirituality is not to be gained through either extremes or excesses. Those who try to become ascetics by retiring from the world and rejecting the problems of life, those who fast, those who neglect the problems of daily existence, such cannot achieve. In the last analysis, only that which is natural and in harmony with common sense can produce permanent benefit. It is the failure to observe these requisites that has caused so much misunderstanding with respect to occultism today. People desire to unfold clairvoyant powers and enter a Nirvana a state of perfect peace and liberation of happiness, peace, and selfish enjoyment. They believe that occultism will vicariously solve their problems. All this is wrong, for no one can attain occultism who has not first given up the desire for earthly happiness and proved his courage and ability to master the problems which beset him in this mortal sphere.

(7) The candidate must next consider the esoteric interpretation of the so-called material arts and sciences. Astronomy, mathematics, music, rhetoric, geometry, grammar, and logic are often called the liberal arts and sciences. There are, in reality, forty-nine great arts and sciences. An extract from occult anatomy will show how esoteric science differs from material, or exoteric, science. Turn to the painting of the seven spinal chakras energy centers or wheels of light in the subtle body. In the picture the general form of the chakras has been carefully preserved, special emphasis being placed upon the correct number of petals. In the secret teachings, each of these petals is assigned a letter of the Sanskrit alphabet. The human figure has been made semi-transparent, as it might appear to one actually gazing upon a Yogi a practitioner of yoga in meditation. The Yogi is apparently suspended in the air, for the power of sight which would enable one to see the chakras would take no cognizance of the physical earth upon which he is sitting. The plate is, of course, diagrammatic and must not be considered too literally.

Study carefully the flower-like centers upon the spinal column of the Yogi. Through the center of the seven flowers passes the tube Sushumna the central channel for vital energy in the spine, which corresponds to the sixth ventricle of science, a tiny tube passing through the center of the spinal cord. On the left side of Sushumna is another tube called Ida the lunar or feminine energy channel, and on the right side a third called Pingala the solar or masculine energy channel. These are the poles of the central tube, the sharp and flat of Sushumna itself. These two tubes are profoundly influenced by the nostrils on their respective sides. The Ida and Pingala cross at the heart, the neck, and rise out of the four-petaled lotus at the base of the spine. The Ida, Sushumna, and Pingala together are the chief of the Nadis channels for the flow of vital force or life energy, and of these three the Sushumna is the most important. In the ordinary individual the tube of the Sushumna is closed, but by Yoga it is opened so that there is a direct connection between the sacral plexus at the base of the spine and the pineal gland in the head.

According to Hindoo allegory, Kundalini the serpent fire or primordial energy, the goddess of the serpent fire, descends into man through the umbilical cord at the navel. When the umbilical cord is cut, this serpentine power coils itself in the sacral plexus, where it rests upon the triangular bone at the end of the sacrum. This triangular bone is shown as an inverted triangle in the Muladhara the root center or base chakra, the four-petaled lotus-blossom at the base of the spine. Here Kundalini remains coiled until through occult exercises she is caused to rise through Sushumna into the brain, where she awakens the activity of the third eye, the pineal gland. This third eye is the link connecting man with the spiritual world or, to be more correct, with the higher spiritual nature of himself. The anthropos the spiritual man or human being in its primordial state, or overman, which never descends into incarnation, was called by the Greeks the Cyclops original: "Cyclops", referring to the one-eyed giants of myth, the giant who had but one eye. This eye was the pineal gland, by means of which the higher ego was capable of seeing downward into the human nature and the human ego was capable of seeing upward into Buddhi the higher mind or spiritual soul, or the overman. Kundalini is more or less excited into rising as the result of the ascending essences in Ida and Pingala.

Here we have the caduceus of Hermes the staff of the Greek god of wisdom and messenger of the gods. The two serpents coiled around the staff are Ida and Pingala, the central staff is Sushumna, the bulb at the upper end of the rod is Sahasrara the thousand-petaled lotus at the crown of the head, and the wings are Ajna the third-eye chakra located between the eyebrows, the two-petaled lotus above the bridge of the nose. There is some dispute among Eastern occultists as to whether the pineal gland is actually the thousand-petaled lotus. Some affirm that it is, others that it is not but that a higher center in the brain is actually the Sahasrara.

Let us now consider the centers from the lower upward. That division or step of Yoga called Pranayama the regulation of breath and life force is devoted to awakening Kundalini from her coils and causing her to rise up-