Excellent post! I saw on J.M. Greer's Open Post that you were interested in advice about dealing with anger, so for what it's worth, I thought I'd share the methods I used in successfully overcoming my chronic anger. Franz Bardon's Initiation Into Hermetics starts the student off by constructing what he calls the 'Soul Mirror.' The Soul Mirror is a catalogue of one's positive and negative qualities, traits, or emotions. These traits are then categorized according to the Four Classical Elements as primarily Fire (Hot and Dry), Earth (Cold and Dry), Water (Cold and Wet), or Air (Hot and Wet). One can then see in the Soul Mirror what elemental imbalances one has, and work on achieving an elemental equilibrium. The immediate usefulness of this model comes in the next step, that of transformation. One can now create a strategy based on the elemental nature of the trait - in this case, anger. Using the Alchemical (or Elemental) Square of Opposition, one can outline the transformation process in the following manner. Let's say the anger's elemental quality is Fire - hot and dry. Its opposite would be positive Water qualities - cold and moist. One can see from the Elemental Square of Opposition, however, that it would be difficult to go directly from Fire to Water - one must go through either the Air traits (hot and moist) or the Earth traits (cold and dry) first, to reach Water. In my case, I chose to go through positive Air qualities - communication (writing, verbalizing), analysis, understanding, clarity, optimism, joy. Repeatedly writing down the thinking associated with the anger, analyzing it objectively, and uncovering its deepest roots; and also deliberately writing down things to be optimistic and joyful about. Throughout this time, I used Bardon's recommended techniques of 1) affirmations, 2) charging water and food with the desired trait (the food is then consumed and the quality absorbed), and 3) sessions of charging the air with the desired quality (which is then breathed in). An additional technique I used is the Stoic form of mindfulness - being aware of the 'locus of control': is the cause of this emotion up to me, within my control? Or not up to me, beyond my control? So throughout the day, every day, whenever the anger arose, I recorded in a chart the Time, the Thought, the Emotion, the Action, the Locus of control (is it up to me?), the elemental quality (negative Fire), and the replacement elemental quality I was cultivating (positive Air or, later, positive Water). By monitoring the thoughts associated with the emotion, I was able to notice repeating thought-habits, and whenever they arose, to more easily let go of concerns for things beyond my control. After successfully shifting the energies of the anger to Air, I then began to cultivate positive Water qualities - forgiveness, compassion, gratitude, etc., using the same methods. By ultimately replacing the negative Fire trait with positive Water traits, I could ensure a more permanent neutralization of the source of the anger. With time, these cultivated traits became permanent habits - just as the anger was a habit. An additional benefit of working with one's traits and emotions as manifestations of the Elements within oneself is that it fits very well other disciplines that use the Four Elements, such as geomancy, astrology, and many types of magic. I hope you find this helpful! Regards, Josh Rout
A Method to Transform Anger
Dear Kimberly,
Excellent post! I saw on J.M. Greer's Open Post that you were interested in advice about dealing with anger, so for what it's worth, I thought I'd share the methods I used in successfully overcoming my chronic anger. Franz Bardon's Initiation Into Hermetics starts the student off by constructing what he calls the 'Soul Mirror.' The Soul Mirror is a catalogue of one's positive and negative qualities, traits, or emotions. These traits are then categorized according to the Four Classical Elements as primarily Fire (Hot and Dry), Earth (Cold and Dry), Water (Cold and Wet), or Air (Hot and Wet). One can then see in the Soul Mirror what elemental imbalances one has, and work on achieving an elemental equilibrium. The immediate usefulness of this model comes in the next step, that of transformation. One can now create a strategy based on the elemental nature of the trait - in this case, anger.
Using the Alchemical (or Elemental) Square of Opposition, one can outline the transformation process in the following manner. Let's say the anger's elemental quality is Fire - hot and dry. Its opposite would be positive Water qualities - cold and moist. One can see from the Elemental Square of Opposition, however, that it would be difficult to go directly from Fire to Water - one must go through either the Air traits (hot and moist) or the Earth traits (cold and dry) first, to reach Water.
In my case, I chose to go through positive Air qualities - communication (writing, verbalizing), analysis, understanding, clarity, optimism, joy. Repeatedly writing down the thinking associated with the anger, analyzing it objectively, and uncovering its deepest roots; and also deliberately writing down things to be optimistic and joyful about. Throughout this time, I used Bardon's recommended techniques of 1) affirmations, 2) charging water and food with the desired trait (the food is then consumed and the quality absorbed), and 3) sessions of charging the air with the desired quality (which is then breathed in).
An additional technique I used is the Stoic form of mindfulness - being aware of the 'locus of control': is the cause of this emotion up to me, within my control? Or not up to me, beyond my control? So throughout the day, every day, whenever the anger arose, I recorded in a chart the Time, the Thought, the Emotion, the Action, the Locus of control (is it up to me?), the elemental quality (negative Fire), and the replacement elemental quality I was cultivating (positive Air or, later, positive Water). By monitoring the thoughts associated with the emotion, I was able to notice repeating thought-habits, and whenever they arose, to more easily let go of concerns for things beyond my control.
After successfully shifting the energies of the anger to Air, I then began to cultivate positive Water qualities - forgiveness, compassion, gratitude, etc., using the same methods. By ultimately replacing the negative Fire trait with positive Water traits, I could ensure a more permanent neutralization of the source of the anger. With time, these cultivated traits became permanent habits - just as the anger was a habit.
An additional benefit of working with one's traits and emotions as manifestations of the Elements within oneself is that it fits very well other disciplines that use the Four Elements, such as geomancy, astrology, and many types of magic.
I hope you find this helpful!
Regards,
Josh Rout