To the readers of the Franz Bardon books on Hermetic Science:

As translators and publisher of the Franz Bardon works, the most frequently asked question is: “Are there any support groups or a teacher somewhere who can help me with my studies and the practice of the exercises in the Franz Bardon’s books?”

Actually the answer to this question is answered many times by Franz Bardon himself throughout his books on Hermetics. The student must earn the right to a teacher first; he must go halfway before he can expect any help at all, as this right must be earned. Over the years some Bardon related material has been published or made available to the general public. However, these publications will serve the seeker of truth very little or not at all, because truth does not require any further explanations. The Bardon books on Hermetics are based on divine principles, the source of which is Divine Providence, and only books that can make the same claim will further the spiritual development of a student who is seeking the truth. For the Hermetic Sciences is the map for the true seeker of truth. It is the path to God, and anyone who does not wish to travel on this path will fail. However, anyone who wishes to travel this path must take the words of Christ, the great Master of the Mystics, to heart and they must be his sacred command: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself!” That is the very first step.

Furthermore, a support group or teacher would be very detrimental to any student’s spiritual development, because the information to progress must come from within the aspiring novice, not from a person or an association who expects to be paid. This knowledge cannot be bought, because the knowledge necessary to progress comes from within, not from the experience of others that may be tinged with personal negative characteristics, which would ultimately be an added burden the aspiring student, because these characteristics of the teacher or support group will be added to his own. And instead of getting closer to the truth or getting the information necessary to succeed, he would be removing himself from it. It is also very important to read the books in the proper sequence,

Initiation into Hermetics, Volume I

The Practice of Magical Evocation, Volume II

The Key to the True Kabbalah, Volume III,

even if the reader has no intention of proceeding to the practice of the Hermetic Sciences and only wishes to gain the philosophical knowledge.

If the reader wishes to become a practicing student of the Hermetic Sciences, not only must he read the theory word for word, sentence by sentence, in order to succeed, before he can begin with the practice, he must study it until he knows the theory by heart (knows it, not memorizes it). The student cannot commence with the practice until he has all the theory in Initiation into Hermetics at his fingertips, and only then can he begin with practice. If this crucial first step is not achieved, then the lack of this knowledge will become the stumbling block to any further spiritual development. Once this step has been achieved, that removes the first obstacle.

When a student has problems with thought control or vacancy of mind, the cause is the negative characteristics in the soul; to put the negative characteristics in order is most rewarding work. It requires an enormous effort but it is more than worthwhile, because it will give the aspiring novice the knowledge and energy to do all the subsequent exercises in Initiation into Hermetics.

How can this be achieved? All truth is simple and all lies are complex. But that does not mean it will be an easy task. It is easier for those people who have love in their hearts for their fellowman and who are not consumed by self-love, because self-love and all negative characteristics (passions) rob the student of the energy and knowledge necessary to do this work, whereas, virtues give the student the necessary energy and knowledge to perform the exercises correctly. When a student’s negative characteristics are in control, then the student must gain or regain that control over his negative characteristics (passions), which can be achieved with the help of one’s positive characteristics (virtues). All this information is contained in Initiation into Hermetics, but the student must apply these principles. When passions are in control disorder exists, and disorder is chaos in the soul. When passions are in control, both virtues and passions are in disorder. By putting our virtues in order, the passions will fall into place.

Now the question arises: Which passion causes the greatest disorder and which virtue causes complete order. The highest virtue causes the greatest order and lowest and most despicable of all passions causes disorder or divisiveness. This also applies to a nation, divisiveness among the people makes it easy for the leaders to rule and to make war with other nations and establish an army. This negative characteristic is pride. Pride is also one of the seven deadly sins (the seven deadly sins are anger, covetousness, envy, gluttony, lust, pride and sloth), and that makes any spiritual progress impossible. If you wish to succeed you must eliminate that word completely from your vocabulary, otherwise, you will never establish order in your soul and you will never be in control of your negative characteristics. Human beings and nations who use the word “pride” frequently can easily be controlled and cannot progress spiritually, for the other ingredients of pride are evil and stupidity, and these characteristics also cause the greatest disorder in a human being. Having said that, what is the greatest virtue a human being can have — there is only one, and Franz Bardon mentions it in his writings. Franz Bardon expresses it as follows (this cannot be mentioned often enough): “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Results with the Franz Bardon exercises would present themselves even sooner if we love our fellowman more than ourselves. Love is the virtue that puts everything in order, our virtues as well as our passions. Then we will gain control over our passions and the negative characteristics in our soul, and that will allow us to proceed with the Bardon exercises. We will succeed with everything which has been stated in this article if you very carefully follow all the directions in the Bardon books.

However, it is not very easy to follow directions that are divine and truthful when we are controlled by pride; but if we allow love for our fellowman take over the controls, we will soon find that everything is put into the proper order and success and progress will result.

False prophets, priests, and teachers will always ask for silver and gold in one or another form, and they are also filled with pride. Therefore they do not have the knowledge to put a seeker of truth onto the right path, but they will in every case put the seeker onto the wrong path and he or she will lose much valuable time. Whereas, true prophets and teachers will not ask for silver and gold in any form — that is how you can distinguish a true prophet from a false one. A true prophet will give true information, whereas, a false prophet only false information.

It would also be very advantageous, and the student would gain great knowledge, if he reads all the Franz Bardon works first in the proper sequence, and then begin with the actual practice of Initiation into Hermetics, because it would give him or her a solid foundation. And always remember that silence is might and the true sign of a real magician.

An easy way of determining a positive characteristic from a negative one is by using opposites, such as: life – death, light – darkness, love – hate (pride), etc.

In short, we must replace pride with love and all the characteristics that prevent the student from spiritually progressing will enter into a divine order in the soul and the soul will no longer be an obstacle. The student will still have to persevere for there will be other obstacles. However, a true seeker of truth will not consider obstacles to be obstacles because to a true seeker they are challenges, and if he considers the obstacles to be challenges, it will give him the necessary strength and he will succeed, but if he considers the challenges to be obstacles, they will take his strength and he will fail.

Every student of Hermetics must be knowledgeable in respect to the meaning of the words, for example, the word “passion” actually means “suffering,” so if the student wants to suffer, he must follow his passions, and suffering deprives one of strength, whereas, virtue means power and goodness. So you must decide between the two — success or failure.