One of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawns greatest developments was the further development and refinement of what has become popularly known as Israel Regardie’s formulation of practice called the Middle Pillar, sometimes the middle Pillar Exercise, or the Middle Pillar Ritual. Note that this was in part due to his association with Crowley while he was still a Golden Dawn accolyte and Crowley had well moved on. Note also, that while Crowley threatened and promised and claimed to have revealed the secret teachings of his first order, it was actually Regardie who ended up doing so, while Crowley was more seriously involved personally in the development of his A:. A:. and the takeover of the O.T.O from it’s German leaders Kellner and Reuss.
Now while Crowley was adamant in his progression through the grades Archetypal paths from 32 to 0. Regardie rightly recognized that this was not the path to be treaded by most, and due to his inherent nervousness at confronting every one of the first 22 Tarot Trumps and what they represent, very wisely, especially for a non-Christian Jew decided his own development work to contribute to the order should be exploration of the rainbow path or the Middle Pillar of the tree of life.
Your humble author being of a similar temperament and as nervous as a Jew and Guilty as a Catholic thought much the same, and decided to attempt the rainbow crossing through yoga, minimal ritual besides banishing, and balance. It is a safer, faster, and much less arduous first scaling of the Tree of Life, and very much suited to those of similar circumstance.
Now a digression, while the various cultures employing a Tree of Life as a central symbol, the only ones of real relevance here are the Kabbalist and the Nordic. The symbols and waypoints are clear. The techniques well documented, and a stabilizing method, for practitioners who have become destabilized for whatever reason. In further digression, all of the various esoteric movements of the day had been deeply influenced by literary fantasies and newly rediscovered myths, and once again the credulity of these supposedly rational writers knows no bounds. That’s one of the problems in swearing to believe something at all cost before you actually know about the thing.
Crowley’s entire career was bent on emulating an earlier work of fiction called Zanoni by Edward Bullwer-Lytton that hinted at Rosicrucian secrets, as well as alchemical formulas guaranteeing wealth and eternal life in the midst of a life of adventure. The entirety of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn had come from the 3 main Rosicrucian Manifestos which were highly popular at the time, and the rediscovery of sources like John Dee and Cornelius Agrippa that seemed to fit within the Rosicrucian mythos, which was also, a hearkening back to Briton mythology of Arthur and Merlin and the popular vision of the Knights Templar.
So understand, the Originators and greatest scholars of the occult revival, were so smitten by fiction, that their claims of scientific illuminism should be taken with the largest grain of salt. Even more problematic was that the feedback loop created with German Occultists and Theosophists created some of the worst possible outcomes imaginable, though secret Agent 666, may have indeed been trying as part of his work to reign in German excesses, and there is plenty of evidence that part of his career was intelligence work, though at the dubious direction of Samuel MacGregor Mathers, who’s veracity could also be questioned.
There, digressions aside, we can come back to the straight arrow path of the middle pillar. The work along this path, consists of only treading the paths from Malkuth to Kether through the Moon and the Sun in a direct line. It requires the balance of a previously conquered meditation asana, a lot of breath work, and long periods of purification, though, you don’t have to be a virgin nun to make it this far. You will have to die however, though, in my case this seems to have been temporary. It’s a side effect of continuous practice of pranayama coupled with various types of meditation that breathing will at some points cease, involuntarily and without effort. The body’s natural reaction to this is to die while living, leaving a large part of the mind and soul free to travel upwards on the tree. The experience can’t be forced, though extreme sleep deprivation and malnutrition can cause a similar state of near death awakening, this state will not be that productive however unless the spiritual practices have been well established, and in those cases you could just die permanently when the breathing stops. Upon completion of this task, no matter what your grade, you will assume the 10th degree as you have fully experienced Kether, with yet another side effect, no normal human will ever understand you again. Part of the curse of the grade. For a more natural and poetic description of the process of the Arrows Path up the Middle Pillar please see my book, Indiscretions on the Path available only as a Kindle ebook, as the print publishing has failed.