My Spear is Lightning: Volume 2 (Notes on Prayer): Notes on Prayer, #2

By Virgil

Everyone attempting to work through Franz Bardon's book Initiation into Hermetics will someday face one of two possible outcomes – success or failure. How you use your time in the present will determine which of these outcomes you will ultimately face in the future. In this book, Virgil discusses one of the best uses of time for aspiring magicians – prayer. Through the use of prayer heavenly assistance can be obtained, virtues can be cultivated, and obstacles in one's path can be dissolved by divine grace. My Spear is Lightning is the second book in the "Notes on Prayer" series. Those who enjoyed the first book – My Sword is Fire – and wish to continue their exploration of prayer will find additional insights in this book. By sharing over fifty clear and thought-provoking notes from his journals, Virgil continues to guide Bardonists in adapting the art and science of prayer to handle challenges of the unique path they walk.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Falcon Books Publishing
• Release date: May 11, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224497249

Virgil

Virgil is a writer and Christian magician who has worked extensively with Franz Bardon's system of magic and enjoys sharing his insights through various outlets. He is currently the author of four books – 'The Spirit of Magic'. 'The Elemental Equilibrium,' 'The Covert Side of Initiation,' and 'The Gift to be Simple.' He runs his own blog 'Living Franz Bardon'. Although he enjoys sharing his insights, he enjoys encouraging others to share theirs even more. For this reason, during the summer of 2019, Virgil organized the first Franz Bardon community fundraiser, which resulted in the publication of the collaborative book 'Equipoise: Insights into Foundational Astral Training'. This book is a compilation of essays and poems about magical equilibrium written by over two dozen students and initiates of Franz Bardon's system, and all profits from its sales go to the Best Friends Animal Society. Virgil believes that who a magician really is depends on his or her level of compassion, kindness, and forgiveness. According to Virgil, magical skills, psychic abilities, and occult knowledge can never substitute for these three traits, but aspiring magicians, in their rush to explore the Greater Mysteries, often lose sight of this basic spiritual fact. Many of Virgil's writings are intended to remind readers that one cannot be a good magician without first being a good person, and that at the end of the day any form of power, including magical power, is of no value unless one has the wisdom needed to use it for the purposes of love. Although he is able to write about the technical aspects of magic, Virgil rarely does so, opting instead to produce writings that help aspiring magicians keep sight of the things that truly matter.

Book preview

My Spear is Lightning

Notes on Prayer: Volume II

Virgil

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Falcon Books Publishing Ltd

Copyright © (2024) by Virgil

Cover Design and Interior Illustrations by Hermetic Muse Copyright © (2024) All rights reserved.

No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher or author, except as permitted by UK copyright law.

First edition 2024 Printed in the UK Published by FALCON BOOKS PUBLISHING LTD St Neots Masonic Hall

166 School Lane, Eaton Socon, Saint Neots, England,

PE19 8EH

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Order paperback versions at: www.falconbookspublishing.com

List of Titles

The Elemental Equilibrium: Notes on the Foundation of Magical Adepthood, Falcon Books Publishing, 2017.

The Covert Side of Initiation, Falcon Books Publishing, 2018.

Equipoise: Insights Into Foundational Astral Training by the Franz Bardon Community (organized by Virgil and contributive author) Falcon Books Publishing, 2019.

The Spirit of Magic: Rediscovering the Heart of Our Sacred Art, 2nd edition, Falcon Books Publishing, 2019.

The Gift to be Simple: My Answer to a Student’s Question, Falcon Books Publishing, 2020.

The Franz Bardon Tradition: Interviews with Experienced Practitioners (contributive author), 2021.

Wisdom For My Younger Self, Falcon Books Publishing, 2022.

Rewriting Fate: Practical Hints for Bringing the Stage Exercise to Life, Falcon Books Publishing 2022.

Marian Hermetics: A Rosary-based Approach to Franz Bardon’s System of Magical Training, Falcon Books Publishing, 2024.

Built Different, A Hermetic Exposition of the Six Perfections, Falcon Books Publishing.2024.

God Lives in All, Falcon Books Publishing, 2024.

Notes on Prayer: My Sword is Fire, Falcon Books Publishing 2024.

Future Titles

On Prayer: A Hermetic Anthology by The Franz Bardon Community  (Organized by Virgil and contributive author).

Nineteen Amaranth Beads.

The Elemental Equilibrium: Notes on the Foundation of Magical Adepthood, (2nd Ed).

The Covert Side of Initiation, (2nd Ed).

Dedication

For Khun Maschenny

Contents

Introduction

1.Training, Training for Training, & Training for Training for Training

2. Sachi

3. Fast & Steady Wins the Race

4. Knowledge, Understanding & Wisdom

5. Don’t Read the Same Book Several Dozen Times

6.Opportunities

7. Legs

8. Misdiagnosing & Diagnosing the Problem

9.The Rosary by My Bed

10. Using Repetitious Prayer to Get Better at Prayer

11.A Prayer Laboratory

12. Dangerous Prayers

13.Two Things

14.Not Albert Einstein

15. Ten to Fifteen Years Ahead

16. Intelligence & Wisdom

17.Try Harder

18.The Direct Path to Becoming Balanced

19. Be Your Own Guide

20. The Final Test

21. Prayer is a Concrete Step

22.Strength of Will

23. The Landslide Story

24.Someday You Might Get Really Ill

25. An Easier Life

26. Kotoku Wamura

27. Wisdom will Protect You

28. Know Better, Do Better

29.Atherosclerosis

30. Start Your Training Before You Need It

31. Ikken Hissatsu

32. A Matter of Survival

33. Bacon is Not Your Enemy

34. Maxing Out Your Defense

35. Wisdom & the Āsavas

36. At Least Make an Effort

37. Don’t Let Idiots Ruin Your Day (or Life)

38.A Fortune Cookie Fortune

39. How Not to Get Fired

40.Using Variety to Freshen Up Our Prayer

41. Toph

42.Be Aggressive

43. Reaching for the Sky

44.Farther & Farther Away

45.The Most Important Question

46. We’re Going to Work This Out

47.The Spiral Staircase

48. The Fire Flower

49.Meta Knight

50.Spicy Food

51.Bad Plans

52.Wise People Naturally Think in a Wise Manner

53. What If?

54.Almost

55. Weapons against Regret

56. From Emergency Prayer to Default Prayer

Conclusion

Appendix A

Appendix B

Appendix C

Appendix D

Bibliography

About the Author

Introduction

This book is intended to be a sequel to my previous book, My Sword is Fire. It is basically a continuation of that book. While one does not need to read My Sword is Fire first in order to understand this book, there are points where it will be easier to see where I am coming from if one reads that book first.

This is a book about prayer. Some of the chapters of this book, however, focus on the subject of wisdom and don’t mention prayer at all. In My Sword is Fire, I discuss the value of wisdom and also the fact that praying for wisdom is an effective way of obtaining wisdom (James 1:5). Any chapter in this book that seems to be about the value of wisdom is really about the importance of praying for wisdom.

Regarding the title of this book, lightning is sometimes used as a metaphor for prayer since, like prayer, lightning unites heaven and earth. The spear is also sometimes used as a metaphor for prayer, since the power of prayer can be used to pierce through the obstacles one encounters while walking the spiritual path.

One final comment I want to make is that this book, like My Sword is Fire, is a collection of miscellaneous notes on prayer that were written over many years. Many of these notes were scribbled down in journals and weren’t originally intended to be shared with others. I have a bit of a strange and random mind, and this is pretty clearly reflected in some of the notes. But even if you find many of these notes strange and random, hopefully, you find at least some of them helpful as well.

Training, Training for Training, & Training for Training for Training

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The student of IIH should carefully consider the following concepts.

Training

Training for training

Training for training for training

When we are practicing the exercises of IIH, we are training to become magicians. This is magical training. However, many Bardonists are very bad at magical training. This is why they never become magicians, but remain stuck on Step 1 forever. If they want to become magicians, they need to train themselves so that they become good at magical training. This is training for training. The more wisdom you have, the better you will be at magical training. Therefore, praying for wisdom is one way of training for training. In fact, it’s the most important way.

But what if you are bad at prayer? The power of one’s prayers is proportional to one’s faith and humility. If you want to get better at praying for wisdom, or praying in general, then you should cultivate faith and humility. This is training for training for training.

To succeed in any endeavor, you have to know what you’re doing. To really know what you’re doing when it comes to becoming a magician, it helps to understand the difference between training, training for training, and training for training for training. ¹ Only then can you come up with a plan. What proportion of your time should you spend training? What proportion of your time should you spend training for training? What proportion of your time should you spend training for training for training? The answers to these questions all differ on a case by case basis. You will have to find the right answers to these questions for yourself. But if you don’t understand the difference between training, training for training, and training for training for training, then you won’t ask yourself these questions, and therefore you won’t search for the answers and find them. Without finding the right answers to these questions, you are unlikely to come up with a plan for working through IIH that is actually effective, and as a result, you are unlikely to successfully work through IIH.

The difference between me and most people who write about Bardon’s system is that most people who write about Bardon’s system discuss training, while I prefer instead to discuss training for training. Personally, I don’t see much need for extensive discussion of training when the instructions for training that Bardon gives in IIH are fairly clear to begin with and Rawn Clark has already done an excellent and thorough job in clarifying them further. From my point of view, training for training is the most important thing to discuss, and this is why I write so much about praying for wisdom.

1. For those familiar with TOG, climbing the tower represents working through IIH, and therefore training. But there are scenes where people trained in order to get better at climbing the tower. For example, one episode shows Yuri training with Cheonhee and a few other episodes show Bam training with Jinsung. This is training for training. Let’s say, hypothetically, that Bam had ADHD and therefore had trouble paying attention when Jinsung was training him. If Bam were to practice mindfulness in order to get better at paying attention when Jinsung was training him, then that would be training for training for training.

Sachi

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Roughly fifteen minutes into Episode 6 of Season 1 of A Couple of Cuckoos , the main character, Nagi, has a flashback about his sister Sachi. In the past, Nagi won a swimming competition, and since Sachi admired her brother, she wanted to win too. However, she had no prior experience swimming and was really bad at it. Still, she went to the pool every day to practice, and the following year she won the same swimming competition. In other words, within a year, Sachi went from being really bad at swimming to being really good at swimming.

Just as Sachi went from being really bad at swimming to being really good at swimming, you can go from being really bad at magical training to being really good at magical training. However, you have to have the same sort of dedication that Sachi had. Just as Sachi put a lot of time into becoming a better at swimming, you have to put a lot of time into becoming better