Books That Blew My Mind: “Initiation Into

Hermetics”
Purnacandra Sivarupa • December 22, 2013

Be kind, friendly and lenient towards your fellow man, but unrelenting and pitiless with
yourself. ~ Franz Bardon

I’ve already written about Initiation Into Hermetics and Bardon’s corpus generally (PME & KTQ),
but I did so from a purely practical standpoint. Now, I’d like to speak more personally.

At the time I discovered Franz Bardon, I was fairly invested in the black magic and demonology of
various European grimoires. I had been in the habit of invoking and evoking various demonic
powers, and had no scruples when it came to using these forces to do harm to those who annoyed
me, or even doing so for money on behalf of others. It was as I reached my depth in this area that
I met and befriended a guy named Chris; he had been practicing from Bardon on and off for a
while, and had seen some results. Out of respect for my new friend (who is, to this day, like a
brother to me), I picked up the Bardon books and read them a bit, but ended up just shelving
them for a while, as they did not really speak to me.

Not more than two to three months later, I found myself quite unwillingly undergoing what
academics insufficiently call “visionary experiences”. Without giving personal details, I was
urgently shown the error of my ways and, mercifully, shown a way out of the hole which I had dug
for myself. As part of my remedial curriculum, I was to immediately take up the work of Franz
Bardon’s Initiation Into Hermetics.

And that I did, with gusto.

Bardon’s was one of the first books on occult practice which I had encountered which was as
uninterested in abstractions as it was devoted to genuine spiritual — and not merely psychic —
unfoldment. Bardon had no time for any doctrines beyond those strictly necessary to make sense
of the practical exercises. Given the sizable heap of tangled mental patterns with which I had to
deal before any significant forward progress could be made, this was precisely the stripped-down,
essentials-only method that I needed; I, frankly, had no room in my head for particulars.

And right from the beginning, IIH did the job. The knots and tangles of my soul began to come
undone. No doubt, this is a frightening process. On not a few occasions, I was gripped by mental
fear, buried in anger, entrenched in sloth; but Providence is with one who takes the Way
seriously, so I was able to persist. While far from reaching instant enlightenment or freeze-dried
perfection, within a year of beginning, I found my temper cooling and overall sense of self-
mastery and understanding increasing.

Soon enough, I found myself drawn to those doctrines necessary to delve more deeply. Though he
never says so directly, it is clear that Bardon’s whole method is based in the cosmology and
theology of Corpus Hermeticum, directly or indirectly. Bardon’s opus thus serves as practical
coursework for the doctrinal teachings of classical Hermetism, within a modern occult
framework. But Corpus Hermeticum is an entry for another day.

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