Who is Practicing the IIH?

[Kichara]

I was just wondering how many people were and were not using the IIH as their guide in magick. If you feel like posting where you are in the Steps or anything that would be helpful for those starting it or practicing it, feel free. Also, If you have no Idea what I am talking about, IIH stands for Initiation Into Hermetics by Franz Bardon. It is a very good book IMHO and you should read it if you are serious about starting magic but don't know where to start. Here is a link to the book:   http://www.mediafire.com/?6fnxb9ltmwx     I would also suggest going to a site with The Bardon Companion, it is a very helpful book explaining the IIH.  http://www.abardoncompanion.com/
Found that the IIH is also in the veritas library for those of you who don't want to download it: http://files.vsociety.net/data/library/Section%205%20(C,%20I,%20O,%20U)/Bardon,%20Franz/The%20Holy%20Mysteries/Initiation%20into%20Hermetics.pdf

EDIT: Wanted to add Veo's very good Practical Commentary on the IIH. http://thedivinescience.org/documents/IIH-Commentary.pdf

EDIT2: I am adding more links to websites that may be of interest to someone drawn to the IIH.

This is by Suba, I haven't read it in it's entirety, but the parts on the elemental kings is always fun to read. http://www.digital-brilliance.com/kab/tobias010.htm

This is Bill Mistele's page. I like looking through it sometimes. You might like to as well.
http://www.lava.net/~pagios/

EDIT 3: Awesome website where Prophecy and Veos hold classes regularly through out the year. I can vouch for them(classes) being more than satisfying to a Bardonian, Hermetic Magician, or anyone interested in spiritual evolution http://www.thedivinescience.org/

[suiren]

I'm about to try step one for the.... fourth(?) time now. IIH is a great system; it just takes a lot of Will and devotion; two things I'm trying to foster the growth of right now. I'll definitely keep "cross-training" though. The Bardon Companion definitely deserves some attention if you do choose to take on the IIH. Also, while the theory section is relatively short, the nature of the regimen is that as you progress you achieve a deeper level of understanding concerning the theory behind the practice. The more you practice, the more precisely you understand what's going on, at least that was true for me.

[TakeV]

Currently on Step V, been at it for a while now.

[Wushi]

I was wondering, does step III Mental require you to be able to look around with your eyes closed and perceive everything as you do with your physical eyes? and this for 5 minutes?

[Oriens Lvx Lucis]

Strictly is the only way to truly practice Initiation Into Hermetics.  If you are not going to practice it strictly, don't bother at all.

[Hech]

"Yes, mixed with my other practices," is quite the valid answer as well. You can practice IIH strictly whilst incorporating other things.

[NathanE]

no but soon will have time

[Aunt Clair]

I was wondering, does step III Mental require you to be able to look around with your eyes closed and perceive everything as you do with your physical eyes? and this for 5 minutes?

Looking with the brow centre like this will develop your clairvoyance and is best done in dim light with the physical eyes closed in trance . Others find a relaxed state prior to sleep is a good way to practice this and they see through their eyelids instead of through the forehead . As clairvoyance develops other centres beyond the third eye manifest in the brow centre .
I completed the 10 steps with peers locally , then facilitated  another group online and continue to enjoy Hermetic Magick .

[Big Boss]

Step 1... for the third time.

[Entity]

I am !

[TheronThemysticles]

Strictly is the only way to truly practice Initiation Into Hermetics.  If you are not going to practice it strictly, don't bother at all.

Well said.

[Shant]

Strictly is the only way to truly practice Initiation Into Hermetics.  If you are not going to practice it strictly, don't bother at all.

No problem, anyone just start it! Then you will know your capabilities and the weaknesses you didn’t expect you might have. Like you won’t know how many push ups you can do till you start doing it. Then you will look for ways, maybe in other books, to help you in understanding your weaknesses more deeply and overcoming them by some certain practices, then you can come back and continue your practice on IIH book from where you stopped.

[Sky Verati]

I'm trying it; first time.  I'm finding meditation difficult still.

[Kichara]

I have been told by a few different wise people that the first step is often the hardest and the longest step, but also the most important step of them all. I am still on the first step myself

[Aunt Clair]

I was wondering, does step III Mental require you to be able to look around with your eyes closed and perceive everything as you do with your physical eyes? and this for 5 minutes?

No the mental practice of Step III is about visualisation and magical imagination . But to actually see in 360 degrees clairvoyantly is possible in meditative trance or mystic projection for example . And there is no reason for not extending this exercise to practice your clairvoyance and astral sight . Sit in Asana in dim light  with the eyes closed . I prefer the throne pose .

Take the mental awareness to the chamber of the third eye sitting within it as a seed of light looking out from it like a great picture window or the wide windscreen of a plane . As you open in protection , deep cleanse breathe , raise energy . Look through the third eye at your hand placed in front of you . Then take the awareness to a point in front of your nose . Then slowly move the sight around at that level to the right all the way around until you are back at the same spot . Then look beneath you, above you without moving your head and try to view the room as if you are a  being floating the size of a speck of light within the mind within the moonstone of the head .

With practice , you can learn to see in 360 as you project . The diamond of the brow centre is the third eye but all of the stones develop the same . A ring of centres will manifest or become imbibed with light from the third eye then behind it , to both sides and then to the bicardinal directions to fully manifest 8 centres . The third eye will be larger than the others . The others grow and then other rings of energy centres begin to stud the Moonstone until the head is like a planetarium of stars .

When these auxilary centres have developed as they do with projection , meditative visions , shamynism , et cetera , then the mystic can view 360 at will with ease . Before this point it seems to be painful to look as if tight unstretched , untested ,the eye moves stiffly , slowly . Be gentle with self and allow time for energy intake to develop you naturally rather then forcing the vision ,looking slowly in a pattern, at first .