Alta J. LaDage - Occult Psychology, A Comparison of Jungian Psychology and the Modern Qabalah.pdf - Psychology - Ylayda

Occult Psychology

By Alta J. LaDage

Ebook by Alladin october 2006 (text taken from http://mysticalkeys.com/)

Forward

The purpose of this book is to describe, in as far as I understand, some of the

inner correspondences between the Qabalah and the psychology of C. C. Yung.

For this task I expect more criticism than praise, for even though there has been an

equally strong antipathy among their practitioners and adherents. Occultists have

accepted and absorbed Jung’s psychology to some degree, on the other hand,

have made a great effort to be "empirical" and to prove things "scientifically." They

have been criticized for being "mystical" so much that they are too defensive about

it. Therefore they tend to reject much of occultism and to insulate themselves from

it.

Alchemy has come to have a certain acceptance with Jung’s followers, and

even with others, because of Jung’s influence. But the Qabalah, even for all the

interest shown in it in recent years, is still relatively unknown. Yet much of the

cosmology and the philosophical writing so the alchemists were derived from the

Qabalah, and the Qabalah is an older (and purer) source. In many cases the

alchemists sought to "cover-up" the knowledge by overlaying it with the symbolism

of metals; this can be more of a blind to understand than n an aid. The original

Qabalah contains the ideas pure without the symbolic coverings. Some Qabalists

have been miffed because Jung did not give the Qabalah as much space in his

works as he did to the source material he gathered from Eastern philosophical

systems. But how much can we expect of the man in one life? His books occupy a

full shelf in my library and I can not understand everything in them. How can we

expect him to have done more! But I have also heard it said that Jung had

personal disrespect for his occult contemporaries. If this were true, then this

feeling, on the part of a few occultists, was returned in kind. It led to split that has

not yet been healed, and may never heal. Jung came to do a service for many, just

as Madam Blavatsky did. Neither one choose to join an existing lodge, but founded

their own institutions. They where competes for the minds of their contemporaries.

But we who follow much later, need not to follow a single banner so religiously.

Some of Jung’s contemporaries also feel that Jung’s cribbed from their works

without giving them credit, but he in turn had an urge to make these idea’s

acceptable to the university mind. He came to bring ideas to the rational thinker

just as HPB came to bring Eastern ideas to the West.

Jung so counteracted the current trend in occultism to stress the magical

aspect to the exclusion of the mystical. The magical uses of the Tree-to analyze

and manipulate the other worlds, astrology, witchcraft, palmistry, healing (the

emphasis on physical health is very strong in magical types), Gematria-are "side

pillar" powers, and these can exert fascination over the student That can often

divert him from his goal of self-realization. Although Blavatsky reestablished our

Western Wisdom for us, most of her descendants adopted only the superficial

aspects of her work: The phenomena of miracles. But Jung addressed himself

understanding. To the extent that he was successful in this, he can be said to be

more properly in the mainstream of Western Occult Tradition, Serving the

development of the inner man.

Such an idea will no doubt raise a great cry of protest from Qabalists and

Jungians alike. Neither group has any particular interest in being associated with

the other. The psychologists will criticize me for being mystical and the occultists

will criticize me for abandoning the purity of the ancient doctrine and selling out to

science. But so be it. I have heard the same said about my own teacher, whose

background and training were in Eastern Yoga, therefore Associate his work with

either occultism or psychology, though he drew heavily from both camps. This is

the petty quarreling of primitive chauvinism. Because I do not belong to either tribe

I can be free to adopt the wisdom of both without having to restrict myself to what a

group- mind would decree as acceptable doctrine. My service is to the Law itself,

and I cannot refuse Its urge to manifest Itself.

This book is not intended to be "scientific" or even rational! It is rather to be

taken intuitively and it should be used not as a source of study and thinking, but as

a source of dreaming and inspiration. In other words, it speaks to the intuitive mind

and to the unconscious rather than to the cortical mind. I do hope, however, that it

will arouse in the reader some respect for the ancient wisdom left us by our

forbears. In many cases they suffered great brutalities for their heresies, so that we

might be able to buy them in paperback editions at the local liquor store. But just

because we can buy them at the liquor store, we are prone to not value the tragic

cost to those who made this easy access to truth possible to us today. Such great

sacrifice deserves more reward than the superficial attention we give to them as

curiosities.

CHAPTER I

THE ETERNAL QUEST

Most of us have heard of one or more of the systems of Eastern Yoga. We all

know something about Hatha Yoga- the techniques of controlling the body, and if

we are early risers we may have practiced some of the exercises demonstrated on

early-morning television by its modern apostles. So most of us think of Yoga only

as an exotic form of physical exercise. Students of philosophy or religion know that

this Yoga is but one aspect of a large and complex religious-philosophical system

used in oriental nations (primarily India) to achieve Nirvana (Liberation)-also called

Enlightenment or Cosmic Consciousness. That such a state exists for Man and that

there exist methods for attaining it, is usually regarded with suspicion in our

Western world. I am sure that this is due greatly to our Judaeo-Christian heritage or

our misinterpretation of it, which does not believe in any other state of

consciousness than the most gruesomely mundane one, and does not believe in

any personal capacity to achieve another level of existence. Spiritual awakening

and enlightened consciousness carry subtle implications of class differences

between people (the enlightened vs. the unenlightened) and this idea is vaguely

troubling to our Protestant-democratic ideals. Protestant Christianity and

conventional Judaism view all persons as equal in the sight of God; the heritage of

our democratic governments demands that all persons be treated as equals by law

and by society.

Our culture believes that we are all equally sinners, and that in the End we

shall all be angels or devils; that these are the only states of mankind and they are

distinct and only God has the power to decree what we shall become. In this view,

we are powerless to do anything other than to try to do nice things for our neighbors

and hope that in the End God will give us gold stars because we gave to the United

Fund. So we strive mightily to prove our worth by objectifying our ideals. We build

hospitals and schools and all manner of charities for the poor, the homeless and

the unfortunate.

The East turns its spiritual attention inward. It views heaven as a state of

consciousness that is achieved by long and arduous personal effort. The ambitious

yogin seeks to spiritualize himself by retreating from the outside world. As a result,

the East has been spiritually wealthy while remaining socially "backward"-or so it

seems to us in the West. In recent years there has been an exchange of ideals

between East and West which blurs this superficial view of apparent differences.

Yet the West remains outwardly affluent, covered with hospitals and libraries and

other manifestations of our good intentions, while the East is littered with starving

people in Yoga postures.

Is this what Life is all about? Well, as the corporation says, "Our business is

business," so it is with Man: the Life of Man is Life, and ever more Life. If you are a

businessman buying non-deductible Thanksgiving dinners for the poor, you may be

hoping for a pat on the back from God; if you are a Hindu fakir you know that every

breath you take through your left nostril is one more step closer to Nirvana. And if

you are a corporal on leave in Tijuana getting drunk and getting laid, your object is

the same: to be more than what you are today, to have an experience that

transcends your "ordinary" self-awareness. To have it now or after death, by the

grace of God, or by your own effort. All of us are dissatisfied, hungry, and

unfulfilled; all seeking to become something more than what we are today.

For who among us is truly satisfied with himself? In Back to Methuselah,

Bernard Shaw proposes that Mankind was created immortal but invented death and

suicide because immortality offered no possibilities for change. Shaw’s character

expressed it well: "I cannot bear the thought of being Adam for eternity!" If there is

anything about Man that is Universal, it is that he has an uncontrollable desire to be

something more than Man. All of Man’s activities serve this greatest Urge, and sex

and hunger are only means to serve Its end. So it is that all religions aim for this,

and differ mainly in their means to achieve it.

All religions have a common base, although their outward forms differ greatly.

The forms vary from age to age and from place to place and often reflect the

environment in which Man finds himself. T. E. Lawrence has pointed out that the

fierce desert of the Middle East was an ideal breeding grol3nd for Monotheistic

religions, where the nomad under the great night sky had one thing and one thing

only that he could relate to-the All (or Al or El or Bel or God).In nearby Egypt and

Greece where there was agriculture, there were floods and droughts and fierce

winds; all personified as gods and goddesses to be appeased in order that Life

might proceed smoothly. Many of these religions therefore might not seem to be

relevant to us today, at least in those forms which reflect the trials of another time

and place. But for some whore to wash a holy man’s feet with oil is no more

meaningful than to hear about how Zeus sent Persephone to Hades to count the

seeds in a pomegranate. Most of the religious stories, whether Greek or Christian

or modern, are allegories which depict the states or conditions of man’s inner life.

To interpret them as events only devalues them. These myths are the forms in

which the religious urge manifests. And unfortunately only the forms have been

passed down to us. The essence is difficult to extract but well worth the effort if we

are willing to put aside some of our prejudices about the quaint language and style.

The labors of Hercules, for example, can have great relevance to any modern man

whatever his & life circumstances. I have seen many men set off to work daily to

slay the Nemean Lion or to clean the Augean stables.

Such tales are found in all ages. One way to approach our own contemporary

situation is to try to extract the common thread of purpose which runs through the

history of Man. This book is not intended to be a study of comparative religion, nor

an exhaustive dissertation on "the meaning of life." But after many years of study,

and many more of experience, I am daily amazed by the number of people who still

believe that there is one and only one true way to heaven, that they have just found

it (or invented it), and that everyone else must follow them right now! My. purpose,

if there is one, is to add some historical perspective, and to help point out the

underlying unity (as far as I see it) in just a few of the aspects of what Lao Tze

called "The Way." Above all else I am frightened by my own ignorance; like an

archaeologist I am constantly uncovering one more path to God, one more relic of

the spirituality of another age. There is no end to it, this search for Self beyond self.

I am also deeply reverent toward all the great saints and philosophers of all ages

who never wrote a word, who have no disciples, who are unremembered and

unworshipped. If I take an historical attitude it is out of reverence for all those great

ones who came and went and never left a trace. As the mathematician says, if

there is one exception to the rule, then it is not a rule, and then there are an infinity

of exceptions. So if the past yields up one saint, one man who became more than

Alta J. LaDage - Occult Psychology, A Comparison of Jungian Psychology and the Modern Qabalah.pdf

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