OccultForum.org

Recently as I started IIH step 2 work it seems that my subconscious declared war on me. Some new negative traits appear, that I didn't had before, or had but now they become stronger. Also it tries to disturb my magickal exercises. It became hard for me to wake up early. I got sick for a few days and wasn't able to do the exercises. Besides I was able to sit in the asana Bardon suggested for around 20-30min with no problem but now it became very hard to sit still for even 5 minutes. I was able to reach mind vacancy, but now it became very hard, I become sleepy as I meditate (that happened to me very rarely) and many other things.
Is it okay? I should just keep on moving and everything will get in control? Or am I doing something wrong?

It's very common and you kinda have to work through it.

I usually don't write to long posts so remember that this is a short answer.

But it is important that these kind of things belong to you, these are not foreign objects that has invaded you, this is part of who you are, or at least part of who you can potentially be or potentially had become.
This has happened for a reason, Part of you, think that part of you, are ready to deal with this part of you.

Without getting attached to these feelings you should explore them and meditate over different situations in your life that might had become different if this was your main personality, also how you would react if somebody else had these negative traits.

So there is part acceptance and part forgiveness involved in this, but you should never forget that you are a thinking being and that you have an intellectual side that are capable of controlling this.

So you're having a hard time to sit for a long while. Accept this. Accept that it's not going to go away (this is the really hard part) And then slowly try to build up enough will and inner strength to sit even if it's hard. Even if it never gets easy again, you can still overcome this.

Great reply, gives me lot to think about, thanks.

This is a good thing! It's a sign of magical progress. In order to ascend you need to burn off the dross of your personality and resolve any inner flaws that are holding you back. Your subconscious is participating in your work by pushing these issues to the surface, forcing you to resolve them before you move on to the next step.

Hi RockDemon

I've no doubt that the advice already given is correct
You should follow that, and things may well settle down
What I will address is what if they don't settle down, or get worse, or you can't move through this

In that case, perhaps focussed attention on the problem is needed
You say 'negative traits'
First identify each trait as a separate issue to be dealt with

Select and isolate the weakest trait, and deal with it completely before moving on
No matter how long it takes to deal with
Let's imagine the weakest trait is still too big
See with your mind its size and appearance, and look for weak spots
Break open its weak places and chop it into pieces. Then deal with each piece
Now you have something you can handle
Walk a few steps into it
Open up, and experience its content
If it makes you sick be sick, but go no further in until there is no more sickness
When you have mastered that, walk a few steps further in and experience that content
Until it is no more

So, in summary
Break it down into pieces you can handle
Experience the content of each piece until it is no more
The longer this takes you, the bigger it was
The bigger it was, the more problems in your life this was causing without you knowing
and the more wonderful you will feel when it is no more

Best wishes

the_spiral wrote:This is a good thing! It's a sign of magical progress. In order to ascend you need to burn off the dross of your personality and resolve any inner flaws that are holding you back. Your subconscious is participating in your work by pushing these issues to the surface, forcing you to resolve them before you move on to the next step.

Yes it is just a matter of perspective I guess Only pity that I lost my 32gb flash drive in the process ... but then again shouldn't cling to anything transitory

Sweetgum wrote:Hi RockDemon

I've no doubt that the advice already given is correct
You should follow that, and things may well settle down
What I will address is what if they don't settle down, or get worse, or you can't move through this

In that case, perhaps focussed attention on the problem is needed
You say 'negative traits'
First identify each trait as a separate issue to be dealt with

Select and isolate the weakest trait, and deal with it completely before moving on
No matter how long it takes to deal with
Let's imagine the weakest trait is still too big
See with your mind its size and appearance, and look for weak spots
Break open its weak places and chop it into pieces. Then deal with each piece
Now you have something you can handle
Walk a few steps into it
Open up, and experience its content
If it makes you sick be sick, but go no further in until there is no more sickness
When you have mastered that, walk a few steps further in and experience that content
Until it is no more

So, in summary
Break it down into pieces you can handle
Experience the content of each piece until it is no more
The longer this takes you, the bigger it was
The bigger it was, the more problems in your life this was causing without you knowing
and the more wonderful you will feel when it is no more

Best wishes

Thank you Sweetgum, your advice is very helpful as well, since I am doing IIH step 2 work and it is all about dealing with negative traits. In step 1 there is a similar process you described.

RockDemon wrote: Thank you Sweetgum, your advice is very helpful as well, since I am doing IIH step 2 work and it is all about dealing with negative traits. In step 1 there is a similar process you described.

You are never done with step 1, you're going to need those techniques for every step you encounter.
It's not a staircase where each step is left behind you when advancing to the next, it's a combination of the parts. part 3 is part1,2 and 3. part 17 is all the other sixteen parts and 17 as well.
If you get stuck and can't find the solution, go back, do it all again.

Desecrated wrote: You are never done with step 1, you're going to need those techniques for every step you encounter.
It's not a staircase where each step is left behind you when advancing to the next, it's a combination of the parts. part 3 is part1,2 and 3. part 17 is all the other sixteen parts and 17 as well.
If you get stuck and can't find the solution, go back, do it all again.

Yes I do it that way. I even keep on doing the mirror work. I still write my both positive and negative traits so that I keep track of my progress and hindrances. Part 17? Is it just a metaphor or do you mean IIH + PME + KTQ ?

If your brain and heart are muscles and you can feel with your heart and think with your brain,
Then can we not feel and think or dream from the rest of the muscles in our body?

I think that heart+brain=state of mind,
And that the rest of our muscles make up our subconscious.

Was this helpful?

If not...

May this post be removed. ~

I am still learning about the subconscious - so please do not take what I said @heart value.

I've been ignoring all the IIH threads lately, my bad. Remember the subordination of thought and stuff from step 1? Go back to those exercises pronto. What Des said is correct, you have to keep using those techniques you started with. Do you have your black/white trait mirrors done?

Kurokami wrote:If your brain and heart are muscles and you can feel with your heart and think with your brain,
Then can we not feel and think or dream from the rest of the muscles in our body?

I think that heart+brain=state of mind,
And that the rest of our muscles make up our subconscious.

Was this helpful?

If not...

May this post be removed. ~

I am still learning about the subconscious - so please do not take what I said @heart value.

Interesting theory. Subconscious is really in control of most of our body.

cyberdemon wrote:I've been ignoring all the IIH threads lately, my bad. Remember the subordination of thought and stuff from step 1? Go back to those exercises pronto. What Des said is correct, you have to keep using those techniques you started with. Do you have your black/white trait mirrors done?

Oh I didn't know you have experience with IIH, if you have time please go ahead and reply to some posts I have made about IIH. I would love to read your advice as well. Yes I keep up with most exercises from step 1. But why do you think that the subordination of thoughts exercises will be helpful in this particular case?
And yes I've got my mirrors done. Both negative and positive ones. I categorized them by elements then by their intensity. In step 2 Bardon says at first to try to work on the ones that have the most negative influence on the path of magickal progress. I have 3-4 such traits that need to deal with before progressing to step 3. However as I started to deal with one of those traits, all the other minor traits became more intensified. Then I suddenly caught a cold and got sick, which intensified the negative traits more.

RockDemon wrote:

Desecrated wrote: You are never done with step 1, you're going to need those techniques for every step you encounter.
It's not a staircase where each step is left behind you when advancing to the next, it's a combination of the parts. part 3 is part1,2 and 3. part 17 is all the other sixteen parts and 17 as well.
If you get stuck and can't find the solution, go back, do it all again.

Yes I do it that way. I even keep on doing the mirror work. I still write my both positive and negative traits so that I keep track of my progress and hindrances. Part 17? Is it just a metaphor or do you mean IIH + PME + KTQ ?

That was a metaphor.



Or was it?

Desecrated wrote:

RockDemon wrote:

Desecrated wrote: You are never done with step 1, you're going to need those techniques for every step you encounter.
It's not a staircase where each step is left behind you when advancing to the next, it's a combination of the parts. part 3 is part1,2 and 3. part 17 is all the other sixteen parts and 17 as well.
If you get stuck and can't find the solution, go back, do it all again.

Yes I do it that way. I even keep on doing the mirror work. I still write my both positive and negative traits so that I keep track of my progress and hindrances. Part 17? Is it just a metaphor or do you mean IIH + PME + KTQ ?

That was a metaphor.



Or was it?

Mwahahahahahaa [eg] [eg]

Made my day [rofl]

RockDemon wrote:

cyberdemon wrote:I've been ignoring all the IIH threads lately, my bad. Remember the subordination of thought and stuff from step 1? Go back to those exercises pronto. What Des said is correct, you have to keep using those techniques you started with. Do you have your black/white trait mirrors done?

Oh I didn't know you have experience with IIH, if you have time please go ahead and reply to some posts I have made about IIH. I would love to read your advice as well. Yes I keep up with most exercises from step 1. But why do you think that the subordination of thoughts exercises will be helpful in this particular case?
And yes I've got my mirrors done. Both negative and positive ones. I categorized them by elements then by their intensity. In step 2 Bardon says at first to try to work on the ones that have the most negative influence on the path of magickal progress. I have 3-4 such traits that need to deal with before progressing to step 3. However as I started to deal with one of those traits, all the other minor traits became more intensified. Then I suddenly caught a cold and got sick, which intensified the negative traits more.

I don't, really, but I've read IIH several times during my research into basically "what works and what doesn't". That's partly reason why I don't usually go into IIH threads to start with.

Two things here. First off, IIH isn't a book of law. It's a training guide! What IIH does is simplify a ton of theory and techniques into a basic teaching manual. There's things to take from Bardon's work and things to do a little differently. That's the problem of having a book as the Master, it won't be able to cater to individual needs. So when you get into issues you end up fumbling in the dark..

The reason the negatives are looked at first is because getting them out of the way makes amplifying the positives easier later on. I've an argument that not all the negatives can be ironed out, ever. It's not the point to become a saint. And if the positives are worked on better, they can drown out the negatives for the most part.

The thing to do here is to use your mirrors to identify not just your weaknesses but also your strong side. Using those Elements to influence your work positively is better than trying to blind-drown negatives first. I personally like Air-type because of its innate balance-quality. Say you've got Water-type as your strong point, you use Water-type activities and thoughts more. You've got war on your hands? Great. Fight back, hard and fast and keep the momentum at it.

This brings me to the second thing. Sure, that work is going to drain you one way or another. As does almost all sorts of magick work. I've gotten sick far too many times in the past over magick but now I'm at a point where I know how to shut something off before it can burn me up. The trick is to augment your work with your strengths so the feedback isn't a hard recoil but something you can handle. There are no rules in magick, so don't be afraid to play dirty. Say you've got Fire-type aspects in your negatives? Fight Fire with Fire (pun intended), for example. A strong negative is still strong. A weak positive is still a positive. Focus on what's important.

Watch your traits. Find a channeling medium or activity. "Anger management" if you will, on the highest level. And by that I don't mean "go on a drive to clear your head", I mean "go boxing and beat the shit out of a punching bag" and really create a situation where you're acknowledging and using your negative energy to power a positive force.

Remember, these traits of yours are a part of you. Your subconscious is your subconscious. Make it subordinate, tell him you're boss, but make sure to accept it. Work with it, not against it. Good luck!

Thanks cyberdemon, you gave so good advice. Indeed I was more concentrated on only negative ones, without using my positive ones. I'll fix that. And in fact punching bag may be something useful for the negative trait I am dealing with now.