We are going here to walk in a kind of complicated spiral around the idea of the Force or the Ethereal.

Most everyone has some sense of the ideas of George Lucas on the Force, as represented in his StarWars movies and television productions.  His views are not new, although many were surprized by these ideas.  Consider that everything can have a name ... it doesn't have to have a name, but it can.  Life or vital forces used to be discussed in Physics, and light and gravity etc. were at one time thought to be transmitted (like a wave in the water) via the existence of a luminous aether (including a vital force).

Most spiritual paths encounter this situation, from a variety of points of view.  I'll describe these briefly next, and leave to the reader of this any interest in pursuing details.

There is a Magic path taught through the books of Franz Bardon, and the links for introductory ideas can be found above.  There is also a large presence on the Internet of Bardon students and their works.   He teaches, among other things, knowledge of powers.  To master these powers requires a lot of exercises of a kind you won't see mentioned in StarWars movies or in Harry Potter books.  Real wizardly knowledge requires a lot of effort, and neither StarWars or Harry Potter is much awake to that reality.  Why should they, for they are works of fiction.

For example, Bardon teaches working with what he calls "the light".  One practices exercises where we learn to breath in and out "the light", and to condense it (concentrate) it, and put it into objects such as talismans or directly into a human body for healing.  The breathing exercise allows us to have a direct perceptual experience of this "light", through our "feelings".  "Trust your feelings" Luke is told in StarWars.  We can learn to "feel" the light and later can come to see it as well.

This light is not *color, which we'll come to hints concerning later.

Bardon either tells a big fib, or wants for some other reason to sow confusion, for there is a distinction about the light which he ignores.

If we consider "the light" (an older name for the ethereal) to be the same thing or similar to "the life force", we can find in the writings of the anonymous author of Meditations on the Tarot: a journey into Christian Hermeticism a discussion of "force" in Arcanum Eleven.  The tarot symbol of Arcanum Eleven is of a woman holding open the jaws of a lion.  In Arcanum Eleven a distinction is made between what its author calls: Bios and Zoe.  While this is a bit of an oversimplification, we could say that "the life force" has an upper aspect and a lower aspect, such that Bios is its lower aspect, and Zoe its upper.   Bios is more earthly in a sense, and Zoe more heavenly.  Bardon only teaches concerning the more earthly aspects of the light - its Bios aspects.  Exactly why, I am uncertain.

Buddhism hardly deals with this force or the ethereal at all (at least outwardly)  Zen Buddhism steps right past all this stuff, and goes straight at enlightenment.   Tibetan Buddhism will admit (when necessary for a student's development) the existence of these "manifestations", but mostly keeps it all secret, for the very existence of the possiblities of "powers" will awake in the student considerable unwanted desires, and since the goal is after all to move completely beyond desire, an envolvement with powers is a big distraction.

Aboriginal paths well know these forces, calling them the Forces of the Four Directions, and recognize not just the existence of force itself (raw power or Bios) but as well qualitative emanations in the sense of the characteristics of influence (Zoe) that such forces imbue on existence, including the human being.  The author of Meditations relates this qualitative element of Zoe to the Holy Mother, and uses the term emollient to describe how it operates.   There is some esoteric history which suggests that Atlantis was lost because of the abuse of Bios powers and forces, and thus for a time knowledge of these powers (Bios) and qualities (Zoe) had to be keep secret from mankind.

In Christianity one really cannot make a "scientific" connection with Christ's healing miracles, without appreciating the Life Force on occassion, and there is a long tradition of healings being done by various Saints and preachers over the years.  Because of the possibility of fraud, the Catholic Church evolved its elaborate safeguards regarding sainthood, while in Protestantism healing fraud is quite common, and many people, whose troubles worry them, become easy prey for the unscrupulous.

Most of this stuff is unbeliveable in a scientific age, which is why we have "the Force" in StarWars as fiction, and the fantasy of different kinds or acts of magic in Harry Potter (while waving a wand and making funny noises).

This leaves us with Rudolf Steiner and Anthroposophy.  Steiner, by the way, went to great pains to distinguish his observations of the ethereal from the older ideas of a vital or life force.  This attitude is quite justified.

Science has progressed to the point where it no longer just fools around with inorganic matter, making technical devices and spliting the atom.  Science now invades the realm of the biological or the living and organic, and is on the verge of being just as clumsy and stupid as it was when it created atomic bombs.   In the biological realm science is now altering the DNA of the food supply, with the same arrogant ignorance as when it made the bomb, and is by this means putting the whole life sphere of the planet at risk.

If mankind continues to believe all is matter and there is no spirit, ruin and destruction will fall upon us all as Life itself resists our treachery.  Already the signs are everywhere, and all the most ancient prophetic traditions (such as the Hopi Prophecy) predict this time of crisis.

Into this potential breach, the Divine Mystery itself has come, with knowledge unimaginable.  Beginning with Rudolf Steiner, and then following on with his students, all manner of basic knowledge of the true Force has been laid before humanity, if it has the wisdom to approach it in the right way.

Called various names by Rudolf Steiner, but mostly in this way: the ethereal formative forces - these forces are shown to be sourced in the cosmic periphery, and are the opposite of the centric forces we know as gravity.  Not only has there been a whole science of the ethereal formative forces given out in lectures, but practical applications have been provided for medicine, education, natural science, agriculture and much else besides.

As formative forces, these ethereal powers give rise to all organic shape, and once understood this will enable us to finally step past the stumbling block in biology that causes such weird approaches to how matter, using only DNA chemistry, can give us form.

Even in inorganic matter, the balance of the gravity forces and the levity (ethereal) forces plays a role (see George Adams: Universal Forces in Mechanics).

Moreoever, these forces are shown to be the very forces by which human beings think.  In thinking human beings work directly with ethereal formative forces, and by their means shape thought in ways not before conceivable.  This is not all ...

Steiner, in his role as the John the Baptist figure of the true Second Coming has pointed out that in the cosmic field of the ethereal will now be found Christ, clothed in an angel-like spirit form, making Himself directly available to human contact.  Our thinking is the bridge by which individual human beings can now meet and experience this aspect of Christ during a Rite that has to be called: the Second Eucharist in the Ethereal.

What was a vain dream in the mind of George Lucas, exists in reality in ways even he could not imagine.

Here are some introductory books (there are dozens more):

Man or Matter: Introduction to a Spiritual Understanding of Nature on the Basis of Goethe's Method of Training Observation and Thought, by Ernst Lehrs Ph. D. (were among much else, *color is described as the "deeds and suffering of light").
Physical and Ethereal Spaces, by George Adams
The Plant between Sun and Earth, George Adams and Olive Whicher
Projective Geometry: Creative Polarities in Space and Time
Living Thinking in Action, by Joel A. Wendt

by Rudolf Steiner:
Spiritual Science and Medicine
The Light Course
The Warmth Course

"In the Beginning was the Word, and the Word was toward God, and God was what the Word was.  It was with God, in the Beginning.  All things happened through it, and not one thing that has happened, has happened without it.  In it was Life and the Life was the Light of the World."  Prologue to the Gospel of John.


#1 On Becoming a Real Wizard - introduction (part one): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBCW9MyliMM
#2 On Becoming a Real Wizard - introduction (part two): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgaZerhm0po
#3 On Becoming a Real Wizard - introduction (part three): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnxTRphQcq4
#4 On Becoming a Real Wizard - introduction (part four): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Frz3C81Ct5A
#5 On Becoming a Real Wizard - introduction (part five): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMu3gACuhCE
#6 On Becoming a Real Wizard - introduction (part six): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOnZmY46KME

Straight Talk about the ambiguities of manifesting powers:
#7 Powers (part one) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESydqxCqvdg
#8 Powers (part two) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqrFNXpWUDE
#9 Powers (part three) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8lPU4SHtLA
#10 Powers (part four) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9vZD1BhZHc
#11 Powers (part five) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owXMJxeQWBc
#12 Powers (part six) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzszxSDuwUg
#13 Powers (part seven) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-g3GjB19VZ8

 few final words on this element of true Wizardry... (from Lazy Bear's Wizardly Emporium - see link above)

A modern wizard has no need for powers, although the dream of powers is a common enough fantasy.  The Divine Mystery does not need for humans to have powers in this Age, although it does hope for certain forms of mastery.  Mastery of the Shadow in the Soul is one such power the Divine Mystery hopes for us to seek, and with that some Craft, perhaps even Art, in the use of the Gift of the Word.  These are hard enough goals for any human being, and while somewhat difficult, they are frequently more easy to attain than many might think, for the real question involves turning one's heart and mind in the right direction, honestly facing the right questions:  How do I learn Mastery of the Shadow in the Soul? and, How do I discover the Way to create with the Gift of the Word?

For example:

There is much hidden in obvious places in our lives.  We have, for example, a fascination with Dragons, and a modern Wizard is one who has learned that our true human spirit, when freed of its social and karmic encrustations, is a Dragon.  We are Dragon's on the deep inside, as Ursula LeGuin has shown through her use of the Gift of the Word, in her six novels placed in the fantasy world of Earthsea.  It was his Dragon that Gandolf revealed to Bilbo in the first Lord of the Rings movie, when Gandolf seems to grow larger and larger and loom over that oh so small Hobbit while he struggles with his Shadow.  It is our Dragon self that knows how to Master the Shadow, and who knows the nature of True Speech.  We are magical beings in essence, bits and pieces of the Divine Mystery - Dragons out of ancient lore, wise, deep, flying and fire breathing beings of great power and immortal hearts.  We have had to forget this for a time, in order to raise our Dragon Nature from mere instinct into conscious choice and action.  As someone said recently in the social activism movements: It is not our weaknesses we fear, but our power.

All the same, let us not forget the dark side of the force.  Here is a link to a collection of material that also exists in other places on the shadow.

More Videos:

#14 East and West: traditional vs. scientific wisdom (part one) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAhDDIRbcYs
#15 East and West: traditional vs. scientific wisdom (part two) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxYMTr0wQ4Q
#16 East and West: traditional vs. scientific wisdom (part three) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpgNuN8PKvs
#17 East and West: traditional vs. scientific wisdom (part four) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQRXMwrdd04
#18 East and West: traditional vs. scientific wisdom (part five) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhWy0ws5d_8
#19 East and West: traditional vs. scientific wisdom (part six) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIWelN31UCE
#20 East and West: traditional vs. scientific wisdom (part seven) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6geZqh11S8s

#21 Health and Wisdom (part one) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqNzxSb5vfg
#22 Health and Wisdom (part two) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0Giz_0T3Ns
#23 Health and Wisdom (part three) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVMNWKzUkKk
#24 Health and Wisdom (part four) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQ0YLrnVYzs
#25 Health and Wisdom (part five) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PP_fWbkY5ys
#26 Health and Wisdom (part six) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FurjV2iqQBI
#27 Health and Wisdom (part seven) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQerzY3Iwi8

#28 Health and Wisdom - footnotes (part one) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-d2CA5Vr6O4
#29 Health and Wisdom - footnotes (part two) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPNYEDPz2hM
#30 Health and Wisdom - footnotes (part three) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tm94Om0NCCc
#31 Health and Wisdom - footnotes (part four) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiosLO5dDcg