Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book I · 12 of 51 · tr. Charles Johnston
Sutra 12
The control of these psychic activities comes through the right use of the will, and through ceasing from self-indulgence. If these psychical powers and energies, even such evil things as passion and hate and fear, are but spiritual powers fallen and perverted, how are we to bring about their release and restoration? Two means are presented to us: the awakening of the spiritual will, and the purification of mind and thought.
§ Ask Guru about this passage →Themes
Evil As Privationtheology
Augustinian and Plotinian doctrine that evil has no positive being of its own but is a lack, distortion, or absence of the good — denying ontological dualism while preserving moral seriousness.
Passion and hate are described as spiritual powers that are 'fallen and perverted,' implying they lack their positive nature.
All passages →Magical Willpraxis
The doctrine that human volition, cultivated by discipline and emancipated from passion and servitude, is the primary instrument of magical operation — will confirmed by persistent acts acquires causal power over self, others, and nature; distinct from faith and from mere desire.
The passage identifies 'the right use of the will' and 'the awakening of the spiritual will' as one of the two primary means for achieving liberation, making cultivated volition a central instrument of the spiritual path.
All passages →Return To Sourcesoteriology
The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination.
The passage describes releasing fallen powers and restoring them to their original state.
All passages →Separation From Sourcesoteriology
The felt condition of exile from one's divine origin — Rumi's reed flute torn from its bed, Plotinus's 'we have forgotten,' the Gnostic forgetfulness; the affective wound that complements return_to_source and gives the return its motive.
The passage describes the current condition as one in which spiritual powers have 'fallen and perverted,' implying a departure from their original proper state that necessitates restoration.
All passages →Related passages · 15 of 39 parallels
western_esoteric|Transcendental Magic II: The Ritual (Éliphas Lévi)|1. Preparations-b
“We have said that impassioned ecstasy may produce the same results as absolute superiority, and this is true as to the issue but not as to the direction of magical operations.
Passion projects the Astral Light forcibly and impresses unfore…”
Shared concept: Magical Will — The doctrine that human volition, cultivated by discipline and emancipated from passion and servitude, is the primary instrument of magical operation — will confirmed by persistent acts acquires causal power over self, others, and nature; distinct from faith and from mere desire. (derived)
neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 85 (part 1)
“Section 10 10.
But if Matter is devoid of quality how can it be evil?
It is described as being devoid of quality in the sense only that it does not essentially possess any of the qualities which it admits and which enter into it as into a…”
Shared concept: Evil As Privation — Augustinian and Plotinian doctrine that evil has no positive being of its own but is a lack, distortion, or absence of the good — denying ontological dualism while preserving moral seriousness. (derived)
christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 4, Section 1u
“For things of the same kind cannot 333 333 Exuberant vitality is per se a good thing and the more exuberant the better, though, like all good things, it is dangerous, and unless properly directed is disastrous.
be wholly contradictory to o…”
Shared concept: Evil As Privation — Augustinian and Plotinian doctrine that evil has no positive being of its own but is a lack, distortion, or absence of the good — denying ontological dualism while preserving moral seriousness. (derived)
western_esoteric|Transcendental Magic I: The Doctrine (Éliphas Lévi)|16. Bewitchments-a
“FONS OCULUS FULGUR WHEN A man gazes unchastely upon any woman he profanes that woman, said the Great Master.
What is willed with persistence is done.
Every real will is confirmed by acts; every will confirmed by an act is an action.
Ever…”
Shared concept: Magical Will — The doctrine that human volition, cultivated by discipline and emancipated from passion and servitude, is the primary instrument of magical operation — will confirmed by persistent acts acquires causal power over self, others, and nature; distinct from faith and from mere desire. (derived)
christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Mystical Theology|Chapter I-b
“They are useful and necessary up to a point, but the Truth lies beyond them and is to be apprehended to a supernatural manner by what later writers call “infused” contemplation.
The sum of the whole matter is that God is incomprehensible.…”
Shared concept: Return To Source — The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination. (derived)
neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 166
“Section 10 10. Under detailed investigation, many other tenets of this school- indeed we might say all- could be corrected with an abundance of proof. But I am withheld by regard for some of our own friends who fell in with this doctrine be…”
Shared concept: Return To Source — The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination. (derived)
western_esoteric|The Book of Ceremonial Magic (A.E. Waite)|Page 6 (part 1)
“PART I THE LITERATURE OF CEREMONIAL MAGIC Click to view THE SERPENT OF THE GARDEN OF THE HESPERIDES.
From a Greek Vase Painting.
CHAPTER I The antiquity of Magical Rituals § 1.
The Importance of Ceremonial Magic THE ordinary fields of ps…”
Shared concept: Magical Will — The doctrine that human volition, cultivated by discipline and emancipated from passion and servitude, is the primary instrument of magical operation — will confirmed by persistent acts acquires causal power over self, others, and nature; distinct from faith and from mere desire. (derived)
theosophy|The Secret Doctrine|Page 58 (part 6)
“That Third and holy Race consisted of men who, at their zenith, were described [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * This is explained in the section which follows this series of Stanzas in the allegory from th…”
Shared concept: Magical Will — The doctrine that human volition, cultivated by discipline and emancipated from passion and servitude, is the primary instrument of magical operation — will confirmed by persistent acts acquires causal power over self, others, and nature; distinct from faith and from mere desire. (derived)
western_esoteric|The Book of Ceremonial Magic (A.E. Waite)|Page 6 (part 2)
“Here Magic itself rises up and responds that there is a Black and a White Art, an Art of Hermes and an Art of Canidia, a Science of the Height and a Science of the Abyss, of Metatron and Belial.
In this manner a fourth point of view emerge…”
Shared concept: Magical Will — The doctrine that human volition, cultivated by discipline and emancipated from passion and servitude, is the primary instrument of magical operation — will confirmed by persistent acts acquires causal power over self, others, and nature; distinct from faith and from mere desire. (derived)
western_esoteric|The Book of Ceremonial Magic (A.E. Waite)|Page 6 (part 3)
“There was a time indeed when Ceremonial Magic threatened to absorb the whole circle of the occult sciences; it was the superior method, the royal road; it effected immediately what the others accomplished laboriously, after a long time.
It…”
Shared concept: Magical Will — The doctrine that human volition, cultivated by discipline and emancipated from passion and servitude, is the primary instrument of magical operation — will confirmed by persistent acts acquires causal power over self, others, and nature; distinct from faith and from mere desire. (derived)
western_esoteric|The Book of Ceremonial Magic (A.E. Waite)|Page 14 (part 3)
“It is ( a .) frivolous in such experiments as the detection of stolen goods, by which it is placed on the same level as the pedlar's literature of fortune-telling; it is ( b .) hyperbolical and fantastic in the experiment of invisibility, i…”
Shared concept: Magical Will — The doctrine that human volition, cultivated by discipline and emancipated from passion and servitude, is the primary instrument of magical operation — will confirmed by persistent acts acquires causal power over self, others, and nature; distinct from faith and from mere desire. (derived)
western_esoteric|The Book of Ceremonial Magic (A.E. Waite)|Page 25 (part 1)
Ҥ 5.
Minor and Spurious Rituals of Black Magic To distinguish in a mass of forged literature certain books as more spurious than others, seems at first sight a needless ingenuity of criticism.
There are, however, some Rituals of Black Mag…”
Shared concept: Magical Will — The doctrine that human volition, cultivated by discipline and emancipated from passion and servitude, is the primary instrument of magical operation — will confirmed by persistent acts acquires causal power over self, others, and nature; distinct from faith and from mere desire. (derived)
western_esoteric|The Kybalion (Three Initiates)|Chapter VI (part 5)
“With this difference, always, between the various hypotheses--that under the old views Mental Power was ignored as a Natural Force, while under Mentalism it becomes the Greatest Natural Force.
And this one difference revolutionizes Life, t…”
Shared concept: Magical Will — The doctrine that human volition, cultivated by discipline and emancipated from passion and servitude, is the primary instrument of magical operation — will confirmed by persistent acts acquires causal power over self, others, and nature; distinct from faith and from mere desire. (derived)
western_esoteric|The Kybalion (Three Initiates)|Chapter XIV (part 4)
“Many have sought for an explanation of these varied phases of phenomena under the theories of the various "dual mind" teachers.
And in a measure they are right, for there is clearly a manifestation of two distinct phases of mental activity…”
Shared concept: Magical Will — The doctrine that human volition, cultivated by discipline and emancipated from passion and servitude, is the primary instrument of magical operation — will confirmed by persistent acts acquires causal power over self, others, and nature; distinct from faith and from mere desire. (derived)
western_esoteric|The Kybalion (Three Initiates)|Chapter XV (part 2)
“An understanding of this principle will enable one to change his own Polarity, as well as that of others, if he will but devote the time, care, study and practice necessary to master the art.
The principle is true, but the results obtained…”
Shared concept: Magical Will — The doctrine that human volition, cultivated by discipline and emancipated from passion and servitude, is the primary instrument of magical operation — will confirmed by persistent acts acquires causal power over self, others, and nature; distinct from faith and from mere desire. (derived)