Question About Visions & Voices?

[Venus_Daily]

So, I have a question about visions and voices for Jim. I absolutely love the book and find it fascinating. I know that you address this in your book, but I wonder if you could elaborate on your opinion on the visions Crowley had. Do you feel these were purely drug-fueled hallucinations colored by astrological energy? I know I've read here and there on the Internet about other people who practiced scrying and Kabbalah to "astrally project", but could you name any other examples you might know about? Also, is it hard to reach a waking dream state like Crowley without the use of drugs?

[Jim Eshelman]

Most of these were not done on drugs. I'd have to go back through the diaries to see which were (and it's been a while since I read them), but most were not.

In terms of other examples known to me, my own experience is the best example I could give, In an appendix, I give examples of a couple of my own visions of the aethyrs. This is a technique one can learn. I've personally known several others who did this. Phyllis Seckler obtained visions after I invoked certain elements (frequencies of consciousness) and her visions matched what I had invoked without telling her. I've had students who did the same.

In one sense, it's not hard, but it takes a committed period of learning basic skills. Strong experience in meditation along raja yoga lines helps enormously. The preliminaries are a mix of meditation and ceremonial magick.

[Venus_Daily]

Thank you. Jim. I also found the analogies in the book quite amazing; especially about the ocean qnd how most people only sit on the beach and never travel any further. Although my research into Kabbalah is only topical at best, I'm most fascinated by the descriptions of atziluth and how only less than a handful of people in existence have ever been able to travel so deeply while still living.