Pore Breathing and Rawn's "Inhalation of Beauty" Exercise
© 2002
>> I had an interesting pore breathing experience. One time when I was doing concentration exercises I could actually feel my body breathing just like Bardon says in IIH. There was no visualizing involved. It felt like energy was being sucked into my body via the pores and going out when I was exhaling breath. <<
That experience is the goal of the Step Two pore breathing. In other words, that's how it's supposed to feel all the time.
How this *feels* -- not how it looks or how you think it should look -- is THE most important key to mastering the pore breathing and the Vital Energy. If you focus just on the visualization aspect of pore breathing and of working with the VE, then the experience will remain predominantly mental. However, when your main point of focus is the *feel* of pore breathing and of the VE, then it becomes an astral and physical experience, supported *by* your mental visualization. Once you get the *feel* of it, it becomes very easy and very effective.
>> This leads me to believe that our bodies act this way regardless of whether we are conscious of it or not. Doing concentration exercises just brings it to the forefront of your mind. <<
That's correct, however the unconscious pore breathing that the body does of its own primitive volition, is no where near as powerful as *conscious* pore breathing. Hermetic magic is essentially the *conscious* use of nature's own methods. It's that factor of *conscious use* that makes them "magical" and empowers them in ways that nature, when left to her own devices, does not generally achieve.
On its own, your body inhales many things through its pores. Everything from the chemical constituents of the air to the thoughts and emotions of others. All of which eventually effect the whole of you: physical, astral and mental. Some things it inhales because it needs them for its sustenance, but there are other things it inhales that are toxic. This is one way in which we are intimately connected to our environment.
*Conscious* magical pore breathing on the other hand, is very specific and disciplined. A specific idea or energy is inhaled in a disciplined manner. Conversely, specific mental and astral toxins are exhaled in a disciplined manner. All of this is done *consciously* and with great focus, taking advantage of the body's own unconscious expertise in the matter. This is like taking sunlight and turning it into a laser beam -- it exponentially increases its power.
With magical pore breathing, any number of good things can be inhaled. Things that nurture you at every level of your being, from physical to Unitary. One of the most nourishing things a human can inhale through magical pore breathing, is Beauty, in any of Her forms.
Here's an experiment that might work very well for you considering your artistic abilities. :)
INHALATION OF BEAUTY:
Find a picture of what, to your tastes, is THE most beautiful painting. Or go to your local museum. At any rate have this physical image in front of your physical eyes (no visualization required). Quiet yourself and think back briefly on the experience of pore breathing that you described above. Remember how it *felt* to inhale with your whole body.
Now focus your attention upon the image of Beauty before your physical eyes. *FEEL* its Beauty. Focus your attention upon what it is that makes this image beautiful in your eyes and *feel* those things. When you *feel* the Beauty of the image, inhale the *feeling*, through your pores to the very core of your being. Fill yourself up with this *feeling* of Beauty. Try to replicate the *feeling* of true pore breathing that you described. Let *feeling* rule the whole experiment -- let go of all attempts at visualization or rationalization of any kind and just *feel*.
When you've had your fill, ground yourself by *feeling* a connection between yourself and the earth beneath your feet, running down your spine deep into the soil like a tap root. Let any excess energy flow downward into the earth (Beauty is always a blessing to the earth). Then resume your normal waking consciousness.
>> When I was 'Inhaling Beauty' : I found it helpful when associating/creating a connection with the image to establish a sort of subtle rocking motion. An outgoing ripple, an incoming tide. Sending an elastic <<ping-wave>> outwards to the universe, requesting a specific resonance/quality/element/letter-vibration/divine virtue, etc. And then one 'moment' later, when the ping-wave returns, like an incoming tide the energy that floods into my astral/mental dance space IS of that quality that I requested. <<
"The Magic of IHVH-ADNI" (TMO) which I present on my website, employs a variation of this technique. You might find it very useful . . .
In TMO, an energy is accumulated, impressed with a specific resonance, and then sent out to the philosophical "edges of the universe". Along its journey outward, it touches the materia of the universe and causes this materia to resonate accordingly. When it finally touches the divine (i.e., the "edges of the universe" or infinity), it is instantly transformed and it's this transformed energy that returns ping-wave-like. Along its return journey, it further transforms the materia of the universe that it touches, ultimately returning to transform the original sender. This has the effect of creating a resonant harmony between the sender and the universe itself, transforming both simultaneously.
>> THEN, on the next IN-tide, once you have all of this [insert requested type of prime energy here] all around you, you are literally soaking in the qualities that you requested, the vitae that one breathes IN from the marrow and through the pores is rich in the requested nutrients. Mmmm, like breathing IN your daily vitamins. But the vitamin in this case is BEAUTY. It pours in, fills in any cracks & crevasses. You are breathing in beauty. And since you ARE what you EAT, you begin to become beauty. You begin to move in that direction. This beauty-resonance fluid doesn't 'create' beauty within you, it 'finds beauty' within you & shines a light of recognition upon it. It draws it out, it invites it to come out & be. <<
After you reach this state of BEing what you eat, so to speak, it is then possible to exhale Beauty and in this way effect your surroundings. You can, in fact, continuously inhale and exhale the Beautified universe and create a resonant relationship between yourself and your surroundings. It is also possible, using this technique, to effect the temporal bubble that surrounds your consciousness. In essence, this Beautifies the immediate future and disperses any "resistance" in your path. It can also be easily turned into a sensory organ, so to speak, by which you can scan the temporal bubble.
My best to you,
:) Rawn Clark
05 Oct 2002