The mind is a receptor of all those things that come to us through our senses; this receives, metabolizes and emits waves.

It is necessary that the occultist even before he begins to think about illumination, initiations, in being a Master and in getting powers, immediately begins to organize his mind and his way of thinking; in occult terms it is called, “EDUCATING THE MIND”.

Remember, dear Reader, there are more than six thousand million inhabitants on the Planet Earth and we could say without the fear of being wrong and on very rare occasions that there are six thousand million thinkers.

Can you imagine what kind of convulsion there must be in this society since every person has his own way of thinking. The saddest part of this is that each YO or EGO that this person might have is also a thinker; this means it is true CHAOS, true disorder and indisputably carries each person to have great and frightening unbalance in the mental, emotional and psychological areas.

I can tell you, dear Reader, that I, too, have passed through those lamentable situations of being a “hardened thinker”, a real dreamer. I passed my time thinking of all kinds of vague things and remembering all kind of foolishness upto that lamentable point (and even shameful point) that when I went into this world of memories, of rancor, of triumphs and failures, I wound up talking to myself. Perhaps one or two times I remembered myself and was even surprised when I found that I was talking to those characters found in my mind. Each one was telling his story, his incidents; some of them were drinking beer and others were talking to the woman he loved, while others insulted someone. This means in short - dear Reader - a true “mad-house”. I am not ashamed to tell you about this because I cannot hide the sad reality I had to live before knowing these studies which have brought me to my regeneration.

When I entered the GNOSTIC studies and on reading the works of the Venerable Master, I realized that what I was going through was not normal and that this was abnormal and that this was a world of “crazy-people”. I wanted to get further into this matter and I began to take the Work very seriously - that Work I was going to do - even though I was very occupied working to feed my family and this obligated me to sleep less hours at night and to dedicate myself to the fullest to prayer, vocalization, and to meditation, asking my BEING to help me and give me strength, will and that continuity of purpose.

It was in that way and in a rapid form that the idea began to be born in me that I had to remain in ALERT PERCEPTION. I observed what came into my mind from moment to moment and, of course, this was not easy. I had situations in which I felt truly overcome but with the help of the Divinities I continued in my purpose.

I rapidly comprehend what my Principle Characteristic Trait was and as a good Taurus and as a person who had been in the world, I could see I had in my mind those violent states, passionate and hard-headed circumstances floating around in my mind with great frequency.

This is the reason why I felt that I had to accentuate my attention towards these aspects and logically, on every part of the Legion that from moment to moment attacked me.

I remember that at this time I bought a mirror - a small pocket mirror - and I carried it in my chest pocket and each small moment I had when no one was looking at me, I took my mirror out and starred at myself in the face and did that practice given by THE VENERABLE MASTER SAMAEL in that book “INTRODUCTION TO GNOSIS”, where the disciple looks at himself without blinking in the mirror and says, “Dear Soul, you must fill me with strength; you must overcome that Guardian of the Threshold; you must overcome my mind, etc.”

I also practiced on a daily schedule that teaching given by THE VENERABLE MASTER SAMAEL which says, “Worldly mind, you are my slave. I am your Lord until the consummation of the centuries.”

I did all these practices with the firm intention of overcoming my own self, of dominating myself and that is when I was given the Test of the “Guardian of the Threshold” and which I had to pass in the physical world.

One night filled with rain, cold and electric storms I found myself alone on top of a hill in the country, when a millenary character presented himself to me and as the Master says, emitting screens, scary howls, … I cannot but admit that I felt terrible fear but I must affirm that at no moment did I even think of running. I simply said to myself, “I will not attack him but I will not give an inch - I will die where I am.” And with a small sword I used for work, I took this in my hand and with these words that came out of me at that instant, I said, “I am with God and nothing, nor anyone can cause me harm. Christ is my refuge and it is with Him that I am.”

I remember that these were the only words I uttered and that I could pronounce and the event passed.

I also remember with great lucidity and clarity that one night I was in the country on the banks of a river that was familiar to me and I could see that the river’s tide was high, when someone I could not see clearly came near me and threw a heavy sack of something into the river. He said, “You have to rescue that sack of potatoes from the bottom of the river” and I immediately and spontaneously said, “Yes, yes. I can get it out.”

Then I threw myself into the bottom of the river. I was a good diver and I remember I went further and further to the bottom but I couldn’t find it. At last I found the sack. It was what is usually used as a pack for potatoes and I took the sack in my hand and made a great effort and began to go towards the surface bringing it up. When I came to the surface, I could see that the river had risen astonishingly and that the banks were even more distant. The waters were very turbulent and dirty. I felt panic but I was getting to the shore with little difficulty until I got out of the river.

My surprise was that when I was on the shore, the sack said, “BREAD” and that’s the end of the story… it was the TEST of WATER.

On another occasion I found myself on the internal plane and I saw that there was a part of the countryside that had burned and there were still many tree trunks and sticks burning and there was smoke. I was with my wife and I observed that the small path where we had to pass had been burned on both sides and there was burning debris around.

I took her by the hand and said, “Let’s pass quickly” but as we ascended the fire on both sides began to grow again and on the path I said to her, “Let’s pass because at this point we are not going to go back.” She said to me, “But we are going to burn our feet and our bodies.”

I remembered my DIVINE MOTHER and the Divinities and I asked them to help us and let us continue on our Path.

On seeing that we did not stop the Earth began to move as if we were on top of an elephant because it was a hill coming from the interior of the Earth and at the same time these movements occurred, I heard a hoarse voice with dark undertones that said to me, “Give me something to eat because I am going to die…” . I went even faster until we were practically at the mercy of the fire; with prayer, serenity and faith from one moment to another, the phenomenon passed… it was the TEST of FIRE.

The things I could tell you are innumerable but that is not our purpose. We are telling you these details as a testimony of when one has super-discipline in the mind and in one’s emotions, one has one’s placement around one’s heart, around his BEING so that no event nor test would find this person off-base.

I must clear up that these tests that I am telling the Reader are on an internal order and are given in dreams; this means, that one is dreaming but you believe you are in the world of forms, in your physical body. That’s why I hear brothers saying, “… it caught me off-base, unprepared.” One should never be off-base or unprepared because one is not a machine managed by programs. One must be in alert perception because one never knows when one will be presented with an event of any kind.

“MENTAL DYNAMICS” is simply to maintain oneself in that Eternal NOW, in this very present, that is what will permit one to manage that spontaneity of the Consciousness.

When the mind is not educated, it is very important to give it tasks which could be concentration on the heart, vocalization towards the heart (mentally), prayer and inspiration.

Since the EGO doesn’t like any of these things, nor is it convenient for those ‘I’s, then the Initiate begins to have a quiet mind which is apt for thinking of what it has to think and not about those things the EGO provokes one to think about.

During this kind of activity teachings come to us that are extraordinary, interpretations of the Christic Mysteries, those faculties of the BEING and all these things are going to prepare us, are going to stimulate us to continue in superior octaves for all those teachings.

The Dynamics of the Mind take us to truly comprehend, the profundity, the grandeur of GOD in all of ITS aspects. An inspired mind penetrates into the most elevated spheres of cosmic understanding; it is a mind that has no limit - is not limited by concepts, nor opinions, nor much less submitted to molds of any kind.

Only beauty exists in an inspired mind - an inspired mind has tenderness, this is to say, the grandeur of GOD is a cosmic mind and this is what is called “SUPERIOR INTELLECT”.

The Author

V.M. Lakhsmi (excerpt from “The Divine Daemon”)