Initiation Into Hermetics || Step 4

Summary

Clint Sabom discusses his experience with Step 4 of Franz Bardon’s Initiation Into Hermetics, focusing on spirit training, elemental balance, and physical techniques for anchoring mental states. He notes that the step can be challenging and emphasizes that his descriptions reflect his personal interpretations of the exercises.

Key strategies and techniques

• Practice consciousness-transfer exercises gradually. Sabom began with objects, moved on to animals, and finally practiced with people. Rather than imagining himself leaving his body, he focused on the subject’s shape and qualities, empathized with it, and imagined merging with it.
• Respect boundaries when practicing with others. Sabom found the exercise uncomfortable when the subject was someone he knew and raised concerns about privacy and intrusiveness. He recommends considering personal boundaries and deciding what feels appropriate.
• Prioritize emotional and elemental balance. He describes the “soul schooling” exercises—especially accumulating and balancing the elements—as central to his progress and sense of magical equilibrium. In his practice, he worked with the elements in different parts of the body and balanced fire and water across the body’s right and left sides.
• Anchor useful states with gestures or posture. When he reached a state he wanted to revisit, Sabom paired it with a finger position or hand gesture. He recommends practicing the pairing regularly; in his experience, it took about three to four weeks for the gesture to help him re-enter the state.
• Use anchoring throughout training. He suggests associating a useful ability or state with a gesture or body position, then reinforcing the association through consistent practice. He also connects this approach to anchoring methods in NLP.
• Build consistency and willpower. Repetition and discipline are important for strengthening these associations and progressing through the exercises.

Presenter and sources

• Presenter: Clint Sabom
• Primary source: Franz Bardon, Initiation Into Hermetics
• Other source mentioned: NLP anchoring methods