“Red” Light
As we have already said several times, from the perspective of the magical myth we describe, the essence and content of life is the conversion of undifferentiated life force into an actualized Power of awareness.
We have also mentioned that this process is gradual and comprises three principal stages:
1) the “intake” of life energy (that is, establishing contact with it);
2) differentiation; and
3) its actualization, the transformation into the power of awareness.
In other words, any being uses life force to accumulate awareness through its activation. To distinguish these stages, Magic long ago distinguished the “Blue” Light — the Power of life, the “Red” Light — the active form of life energy, and the “White” Light — the Light of awareness. Only the last Light was regarded as “divine,” or, in the terms of Christian mysticism, the “Tabor” Light.
It is this being filled with White Light that constitutes the highest goal of Christian and Kabbalistic saints.
Nevertheless, very often the whole process ends at the first activation of the energy, at the stage of the “Red” Light: the mind, using the life energy, merely skims the surface of energy blocks, failing to penetrate their depths and to actualize them. Although the “red light,” psychic energy (in modern times commonly called “libido“) is indeed the “blood” of the mind that sustains its mobility and vitality, it is itself only an intermediate stage — a phase of toning the pneuma on the Way toward its transformation into nous.
Therefore such “skimming” over the surface of the objects destined for awareness (the blocks of energies) is altogether characteristic of the human mind, since it is the least effective mode of functioning.
Indeed, the whole of modern civilization is built on a cognitive model that implies a maximum expansion of experience with minimal deepening.
The reason for this is obvious and has been discussed by us more than once — it is precisely the Red light that feeds demons, broadly speaking of the word — both Qliphothic and liminal predators.
The fact is that primordial life energy is homogeneous, potential, and meaningless outside the flow of mind. In other words, until the mind has touched it, it is entirely passive, and strictly speaking cannot even be called “energy,” because it cannot confer the capacity to act. On the other hand, when “activated” by mind, Life Power becomes a potent agent containing the possibilities for broad creative activity.
This is why predators lacking their own differentiating power use the Red light as the source of their existence.
Hence their favored, and essentially sole strategy is to provoke a differentiating (“free”) mind to “impregnate” the Blue depths of the life energy and then to dissipate it before it can reach the White Light.
And this strategy of the predators proves successful again and again — human minds are usually shallow and very small.
The “Red” light is, in fact, all active forms of energy, the realizational part of power with which we can deal. Any actualization, fulfillment of desire or impulse of will manifests precisely as a stream of “red” light, and only higher forms of creativity occur by means of the “white” Power. Not only predators, but also Magi who imitate them often seek someone else’s red light — other people’s energy. However it must be borne in mind that as soon as the will of a knowing being draws another portion of Blue energy from the depths of the world’s passive medium and directs it into a channel of realization, it leaves an imprint — a reshimo. Thus, if Life energy in its original form is “faceless,” the “red” light is always “someone’s” (which is summed up in a well-known magical maxim: power does not exist apart from its bearers). Accordingly, when attempting to use another’s energy for its own ends, a predator confronts the problem of “assimilation”; it somehow must account for the imprint that the foreign will has left. In the simple case of demonic feeding, when the task of consuming foreign energy is merely to sustain one’s life, these reshimoth play a minor role, although the Demon, in a certain sense, becomes filled with the desires of those whose energy it has absorbed, which only increases its insatiability. But if an unscrupulous Magus attempts to use another’s energy for a more subtle realization and neglects the necessary protective measures, the result will be a kind of vector sum of invested impulses in the energy stream by its creator and the direction imposed by the thief. Accordingly, the outcome may differ greatly from what was expected. Therefore for the Magus avoiding such predation is not only a moral and ethical requirement but also an energetic necessity. The Magus does not seek chaotic, unpredictable acts, and he can control only currents he has created and directed. That is why the most important task of the Magus is not only the expansion of mind and its deepening, but also acquiring experience and analyzing that experience. And precisely thus the creating and understanding the Myth — the Magus’s working descriptive system adopted by the Magus — is a necessary precondition for the effective magical activity and the development of awareness — the filling with White Light.
There is an interesting analogy regarding color here. In Castaneda’s works, different types of consciousness and energy are also described, each associated with different colors. En, could you comment on this question: is there a parallel here or not?
Hello! Thank you for a wonderful article 🙂 However, one question arose – analysis seems to always be good, and distinguishing “wheat from chaff” is a great art and mastery learned throughout life, but there is always a danger in analysis (i.e., delving into the essence) of starting to notice certain “hidden meanings” in things, actions, or events, even though in reality, in the actual meaning of the content, they are absent (they exist but only in the interpretation of the analyzer) and based on such assumptions, one may act ineffectively. Thus, at the heart of any analysis lies a huge detractor? Or have wizards developed ways to combat this?
In order for thinking not to fall into illusions, it must be disciplined and developed in this direction. And as for “hidden meanings,” it all depends on their influence on the life of those perceiving those meanings – after all, besides ontological reality, psychological reality is also of great importance. After all, each person lives in a world of their own descriptions, and what is true for them is real for them, so the danger of getting lost in the thickets of Psychocosmos is as real as, let’s say, the danger of getting lost in the jungles of the Amazon. To find a way out in both cases, two things are needed – a map and a developed mind. Mapping the Psychocosmos is as essential a part of a wizard’s development as training their reasoning and intuition abilities.
From this concept, it follows that three factors can hinder the expansion of consciousness, i.e., the accumulation of the Force of awareness:
1) Inefficiency of the process of “drawing” vital energy
2) Inefficiency of the process of activating Pneuma
3) Inefficiency of the process of actualizing Pneuma into Nous due to the active activities of various predators.
That is, in tracking the reasons for the stagnation of development, it is necessary to analyze each of these processes, or could only the third be a real reason?
And also, can we say that the influence of Power Places lies precisely in increasing the efficiency of activating the Life Force in a person?
Each of the mentioned stages can contribute to the dispersion of energy, and the effect of the Places of Power lies in facilitating the activation of Pneuma.
Should the deepening into blocks happen simultaneously with the expansion, or are these processes sequential?
The deeper consciousness dives into the ocean of life force, the more energy it can draw from there. But at the same time, the more homogeneous this energy is. At the same time, if you only expand the horizon without deepening it, you get thin ‘slices of various energies’, the tension of which is insignificant. Therefore, alternating deepening with expansion, with a greater emphasis on deepening, may be the most effective approach.
From the point of view of the Myth and Tradition, is it possible for a person to live in the mode of 100% absorption, feeding only on “blue light” and to stop taking “red light” from other beings?
An ordinary person… does not even participate in the act of drinking water or breathing, relying on automation in these deeds. They are unaware of the energetic component of this ocean. Therefore, they do not transform blue light into red.
However, it is an interesting Idea! – Transformation of blue light into one’s own red………….. I remember there were moments at Power Places when during lunch, after a long hike, I absolutely did not want to eat….. The feeling is such that I am full, even though I have eaten nothing…… But not just out of nowhere, as they say – the feeling of an influx of energy occurs against the backdrop of an influx of inspiration……………. I think the question here is to properly tune the “multistranded instrument” – the human body for unmediated, non-predatory absorption of blue light..
Good article. I would like to know the author’s opinion on a couple of points: “This is why predators, deprived of their own differentiating power”, what is this differentiating power (Fohat, Dinur)? Is this the human mind? The power of Awareness? Is the blue light the focus of most Eastern practices, such as the same Kriya Yoga, where movement and breathing are combined? Is this the practice of deepening – enhancing awareness in the current moment?
The differentiating force – Nahash – is the ability of consciousness to highlight individual potentials of the One as independent characteristics.
Hello! Could you please tell me if there is any correlation between the three-stage process of transforming life force into awareness and the three waves of life? In other words, can we say that the kingdom of plants and minerals produce only ‘blue’ light, animals can transform it into ‘red’, and humans into ‘white’?
Hello! The comparison with the waves of life is not quite correct, but we can speak of the levels of consciousness in such a way.