Psychological Effects of Pathworking from Problems on the Path of Return by Mark Stavish, M.A. in Vol 3 No 1 of Caduceus.

“Despite this lack of effective interface between the parent art and science of occultism and its insolent step-child psychology, some inroads have been made to bridge the gap both in terms of technique and theoretical understanding.” [via]

Consider also:

  1. “While many therapists and esotericists are familiar with the writings of Carl Jung and have applied them in some form to their respective work, the realm of therapy that is most important to esoteric students during practical alchemical and ritual work is more closely akin to Freud than Jung. Depth psychology is often overlooked in the rush to the mountaintop, and Jung has been gutted by many of his would be advocates of his psychoanalytical content. Yet even both of these systems combined will only give a glimpse into the interior worlds, as they lack effective techniques for the kind of initiation that most esotericists seek.”
  2. “The works of the Italian Renaissance hermeticist Marsilio Ficino are of immense value, in that they bridge the gap between psychology and magic to a great degree. Unfortunately, they can be difficult to obtain, and deal with a style of kabbalah stylistically different from the more famous modern schools, such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and its off-shoots. Some of Ficino’s insights will be considered as well.”
  3. “I am acquainted, for instance, with an Egyptian ceremonial system, some 5,000 years old, which taught precisely the same things as Masonry does, but in the terms of shipbuilding instead of in the terms of architecture. But the terms of architecture were employed by those who originated modern Masonry because they were ready to hand; because they were in use among certain trade-guilds then in existence; and lastly, because they are extremely effective and significant from the symbolic point of view.”
  4. “The technique of Blake was imperfect, incomplete, as is the technique of well-nigh all artists who have striven to bring fires from remote summits; but where his imagination is perfect and complete, his technique has a like perfection, a like completeness.”
  5. “The effects of pathworking are to greater or lesser degree well documented. Once the basic concepts of what each sphere represents in terms of psychological elements on the Tree of Life is understood, then the links which they form are realized either through ritual, mythological metaphor, meditation, or a combination of the above. However, in the rush to realize magical powers, altered states of awareness, celestial beings, and interior worlds, one of the most significant and important facts of pathworking and all magical work in general is often overlooked.”