Pathworking / Active Imagination - of practical value?

[Starlight]

Hi everyone! I have a query about pathworking (or active imagination, depending on which perspective you approach the exercise from) and its value in a practical way.

 

For background, there's a Tarot court card that I want to work with, the idea being that the court card represents an archetype and that perhaps I can work with this archetype as it exists within me.

 

I have Robert Johnson's book "Owning Your Own Shadow" which is where I came across Active Imagination as a technique. But one book is never enough for me! So I went looking for other books and articles on pathworking and came across Nick Farrell's "Magical Pathworking" (which has been revised and updated and is more recently published as "Magical Imagination"). And that is where I came across a review on Amazon which references Dion Fortune and her reservations about the value of pathworking.

 

I haven't read any of Fortune's works and I have no context for this quote - she may have been referring to a specific undertaking in pathworking and not necessarily the entirety of pathworking itself - so I'm hoping someone here might be able to weigh in with their knowledge or experience or thoughts.

 

The quote from the review:

 

To encourage any student in the development of astral psychism, which is recognisable by the pictorial or visual nature of its representations as distinguished from the intuitional realisations of the higher psychism, is to send that student down a blind alley. No true spiritual realisation is possible for him until he has retraced his steps. The habit of picture-vision, once acquired , is not easy to break and its practice tends more and more to bring about the dissociation of consciousness which is the basis of nervous instability.

 

If we realise clearly that the forms seen by psychic vision on the astral plane are, without exception, thought forms constructed by the visual imagination; are, in fact, ‘the creations of the created,’ we have the clue to the nature of Maya, illusion.’(ch. 12) (The reviewer says the quote comes from "Spiritualism in the Light of Occult Science".)

 

I am glad I read this review, because should I go ahead with my active imagination exercise, I will be more mindful of what comes up and how I feel about it and how I can apply it to real life. But I am interested in understanding a bit more about Dion Fortune's reasons for writing this.

 

Thank you!

[PathWalker]

Perhaps you should read the book then?

 

 

[Starlight]

Ideally, yes, but what's the expression - "You can do anything, but you can't do everything."

 

The reason I asked for input is that I've never heard of pathworking or active imagination being anything other than beneficial - so I was taken aback that Dion Fortune, a major figure in 20th century occultism, considered it less than helpful.

 

Western Occultism is not an area that I want to dive deep into right now, so I was hoping someone could give me a brief explanation of what she meant and why.

 

Have you read her book, PathWalker[/member] ?

[Flaxen]

I’m not an expert on the GD tradition but I would suspect it’s to do with believing the Astral Plane is linked with Yesod on the Tree of Life. It’s the plane before physical manifestation. In this philosophy, it would be a distraction from the ‘true’ spiritual planes which can be accessed higher up the tree.

 

 

[Starlight]

Ah! Thank you, Flaxen[/member] ! I understand a bit better now. It comes down to what was is attempting to do with the practice, doesn't it? If one is working specifically with the Tree of Life, then getting stuck at one level is not helpful. But if I'm using it more the way Jung developed it, then it is serving its purpose well.

 

Thanks again, Flaxen. I really appreciate your help with this. :)

[Flaxen]

Yes, I think working in a Jungian way could yield interesting results. Will you share your experiences here?

 

 

[Starlight]

Yes, I think working in a Jungian way could yield interesting results. Will you share your experiences here?

 

Absolutely! I'd be happy to. :)