THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON THE KING
This particular method of Rising on the Planes is an
exceptionally interesting one to study, not only because it is
most intimately connected with the Eastern methods of
Yoga,* but because we have many practical results to hand,
many actual facts from which we can generalise and construct
atheory. Two of such examples we will give here, the first
a poem by Mr. Aleister Crowley called ‘‘The Ladder,” in
which the projection is vertical, that is to say, directed along
the central column of the Tree of Life; and the second, which
is called “The Ascent unto Daath,” by V. H. Frater I. A.
In the first of these ‘“Risings” the goal of attainment is
Kethgr, and the various headings of the poem point out
clearly enough the different stages the Skryer has to pass
through. From the darkness of Malkuth he passes the
various symbolic colours, which will be discussed in a future
chapter, as well as many of the symbols we have described,
to arrive eventually at Kether. In the second, Fra. I. A.
leads us as far as Daath, the head of the Old Serpent, the
Knower of Good and of Evil.
* The whole theory and practice of Raja Yoga is the awakening of a power
named the Kundalini, which is coiled up in what is called the sacral plexus,
and then forcing this awakened power up a canal called the Sushumna, which
runs through the centre of the spinal column. “When the Kundalini is
aroused, and enters the canal of the Sushumna, all the perceptions are in the
mental space or Chittakasa. When it has reached that end of the canal which
opens out into the brain, the objectless perception is in the knowledge space,
or Chidakasa.” As in the Ascent of the Central Column of the Tree of Life,
there are certain centres, such as Malkuth, the Path of Tau, Yesod, the Path
of Samech, Tiphereth, the Path of Gimel, Daith, and Kether; so in the
Sushumna are there certain centres or Chakkras, viz., Muladhara, Svadistthana,
Manipura, Anahaba, Visuddhi, Ajna, and Sahasara. For further attributions
See 777.
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