Home← The LibraryEnglish · Españolevery practice in the fifty-two books↧ Download the booklet Global Gnostic Archive →Going back over the night, the day and the whole life, from the last event to the first, and what nature does with the finished life after death, in his own words from all fifty-two books
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Every word here is his. Nothing has been paraphrased, joined or improved. Each passage was cut out of the book it belongs to by reference and carries that book and the paragraph it came from. Where he was speaking rather than writing, it also carries the name of the lecture, with the place and year where the volume records them, so anything on this page can be found again in the source.
One exercise, four uses. “The clue to remembering our past lives is in the retrospective exercise.” The first part is what the exercise is and what it is for. The second is the morning: “at the time of awakening, do not move. Do a retrospective exercise to remember where you have been.” He gives the same instruction in nine books, and in most of them the same reason: a movement of the body stirs the astral body and the memory is lost.
At night the day is taken backwards, “like someone who is watching a movie from the end to the beginning, or like someone who reads a book from the end to the beginning, from the last to the first page”, and the reason is self-knowledge, “to auto-know, autodiscover ourselves, to recognize our good and evil actions”. The fourth part carries it back through the whole life to birth and across into the life before, with the mantrams he combines with it, the doze in which it works best, and what it gives. He says it “puts an end to the mechanical memory and establishes, within himself, the conscious memory, the work-memory”.
Nature does it anyway. “After death, we have to review the life that has just passed; we relive it in a retrospective way, with the intelligence and the heart.” The last part is that review: the life relived from old age to childhood before the Tribunals. It is the same backward movement, and it is the reason to learn it now.
4 passages
He names the retrospective exercise as the way to remember past lives and says that every human being can remember them by it. He calls it the most powerful exercise there is for developing clairvoyance. A man who uses it to go back over his whole life can truly recall it.
101. The clue to remembering our past lives is in the retrospective exercise.
Manual of Practical Magic, 1954 also in Manual of Practical Magic, Return and Reincarnation, The Keys of Astral Travel, The Science of Meditation
263. Every human being can remember his past lives by means of a retrospective exercise.
Igneous Rose, 1954 also in Igneous Rose, Return and Reincarnation, The Science of Meditation
The most powerful exercise in the world to develop clairvoyance is the so called “Retrospective Exercise” in Occultism.
Logos, Mantram, Theurgy, 1959 also in Clairvoyance, The Science of Meditation
The man who practices a retrospective exercise in order to remember his entire life can truly recall, remember the number of times he got married, how many children he engendered, who his parents were, who his teachers were, etc. However, this does not signify the awakening of consciousness; this is simply remembering unconscious actions and nothing more.
Fundamental Education, 1970 also in Awakening
7 passages · 1 practice
He sets out what retrospection is looking for. Living mechanically, a person forgets what he did on rising, his first thoughts of the day and the places he has been; the objective is awareness of one’s past actions, recalled back from the present without objection. He sets the distorted mechanical memory of childhood against the conscious memory of the work, which the exercise establishes, and puts relaxation and sleepiness joined to meditation before it.
A practice
1. — RELAXATION: It is indispensable to learn to relax the body for meditation; no muscle should remain in tension. It is urgent to provoke and graduate sleepiness at will. It is evident that the wise combination of sleepiness and meditation results in that which is called Illumination.
The Revolution of the Dialectic also in The Flower That Is Born, The Science of Meditation
2. — RETROSPECTION : What are we looking for in retrospection? Due to the mechanical life that he lives in, the intellectual animal forgets himself and falls into fascination; he goes around with an asleep consciousness without remembering what he did at the moment of rising, without knowing the first thoughts of the day, his actions and the places he has been to.
The Revolution of the Dialectic also in Identification, The Flower That Is Born, The Science of Meditation
Retrospection has as objective the acquisition of awareness of one’s behavior or actions of the past. On carrying out the retrospection, we will not put any objections to the mind; we will recall memories of past actions, from the moment of beginning the retrospection to the moment of our lives that we desire. We should study each memory without becoming identified with it.
The Revolution of the Dialectic also in The Flower That Is Born, The Mind, The Science of Meditation
If one as a child –even if born into the middle class– lived at least in a clean, tidy home, enjoyed bread, clothing and shelter, saw a few coins, it may happen that, as the time and the years go by, he keeps something distorted in his mechanical memory. Because as children, a few bills seem like millions to us; some small fences around the patio or the bedroom may seem colossal to us due to the fact that our bodies are small. So, it would not be strange that, as adults, we would say: “When I was a little child, I lived in that place. My house was magnificently decorated, with high walls and neat rooftops. What beds, what a beautiful table, so much money!” It is a mechanical, childish and absurd memory. So the only real memory is that of the work.
The Fifth Gospel Imagination as POWER, Fantasy as Illness
If by means of the retrospective exercise we decide to remember our childhood, we would see that the house of the middle class boys was not the palace we thought it was before, but a humble abode of a hardworking and honest father; that those fabulous sums of money around us were just a bit of money to pay the rent of the house and buy a newspaper.
The Fifth Gospel Imagination as POWER, Fantasy as Illness
One must destroy the fantasy. Instead of fantasy, we must have conscious imagination, the directed imagination –fantasy is mechanical imagination–, and instead of mechanical memory, we must have the memory of the esoteric work, the conscious memory.
The Fifth Gospel Imagination as POWER, Fantasy as Illness also in Imagination, Inspiration, Intuition
He who practices the retrospective exercise to review his life, puts an end to the mechanical memory and establishes, within himself, the conscious memory, the work-memory. He who, by means of the retrospective exercise, can remember his previous lives, can end the fantasy. Then he acquires the work-memory.
The Fifth Gospel Imagination as POWER, Fantasy as Illness also in Imagination, Inspiration, Intuition, Return and Reincarnation
20 passages · 16 practices
He gives the instruction for the moment of waking: do not move, because movement stirs the astral body and the memories are lost, then go back over the night to recall where one was, what one saw and heard and with whom one spoke. It often follows another practice for falling asleep, and he asks that it be done daily. He tells of the professor who taught it to him in his youth and of what it did for his memory, and says that one who leaves the body at will remembers on returning.
A practice
In the astral, you will mathematically recognize yourself and at the time of awakening, do not move. Do a retrospective exercise to remember where you have been.
Zodiacal Course, 1951 also in Awakening, The Keys of Astral Travel, Zodiacal Course
A practice
So while his body is asleep in bed, the disciple in the internal worlds will become an invisible help and a worker under the orders of the Universal White Fraternity. Before, the chakras turned from right to left and now with these exercises, they will turn positively like the hands of the clock. These exercises will totally impede him from dreaming again and while his body sleeps, he will be conscious in the internal worlds. That will be the result of these exercises. The conscience of dreams is a remnant of our animal conscience that we once possessed. Animals live a life of pictorial dreams. There will be many who will have difficulty “leaving” in the astral body at will, but by all means the exercises of this lesson of Gemini, will “inevitably” awaken their conscience and so, while their bodies sleep in their beds, they, too, will work consciously in the internal worlds. The important thing is that on awakening, they remember well their astral experience, which “are no longer dreams” but rather “conscious experiences”. To obtain this it is necessary that on awakening, not to move and do a retrospective exercise to remember well all we did white we were out of the physical body, since while every individual’s body is asleep, he is out of the body; those with asleep conscience, “dreaming” and those with awake conscience, “working” consciously.
Zodiacal Course, 1951 also in Awakening, The Keys of Astral Travel
A practice
13. On awakening, we should force ourselves to remember all our Astral experiences. 14. During sleep every person is outside his physical body.
Manual of Practical Magic, 1954 also in The Keys of Astral Travel
A practice
Dreams are legitimate inner experiences. If we want to study a plant, we concentrate on it, we meditate on it; we provoke drowsiness and fall asleep. Then, in the vision of dreams we see how the plant becomes a beautiful child, or a beautiful creature. This creature is the Elemental of the plant. We can converse with that plant Elemental. We can inform ourselves about the properties of that plant, about its magical powers, etc. The plant Elemental will answer these questions and in this manner we will receive information. Meditation will awaken our occult powers. Meditation will provoke fundamental changes in the astral body. Then during normal sleep, there will be instants in which we will be conscious, and later we will be able to say, “I am out of the physical body, I am out of the physical body.” In this manner we will acquire “continuous Consciousness” little by little. Finally, the day will arrive when the student will be able to utilize our clues to come out at will in the astral body. He will have got his lost powers. During the hours of sleep, all human beings travel in the astral body. Dreams are the astral experiences. We should learn to remember astral experiences. When we wake up from sleep, we will practice a Retrospective Exercise in order to remember all those things that we did during sleep. During sleep, our disciples transport themselves to the White Lodges. During sleep, our disciples travel to remote places.
The Greater Mysteries, 1956 also in Elemental Magic, The Keys of Astral Travel, The Science of Meditation
A practice
The Path of High Theurgy allows us to study the Great Mysteries of Life and Death. However, it is necessary to learn how to consciously travel in the astral body. Those who do not as yet have that faculty need to acquire it. A daily, vigorous training is necessary to obtain this faculty. After returning to the body, we awaken in bed. Many students commit the error of moving in their bed at the precise instant of awakening from their normal sleep. With this movement, the astral body becomes agitated and memories are lost. On awakening from his normal sleep, the student of Occultism should not move! He should remain resting, close his eyes and do a retrospective exercise to minutely remember all those places where he was in the astral body, all those words he heard, said, etc.
Esoteric Treatise of Theurgy, 1959 also in Awakening, The Keys of Astral Travel
A practice
This is one way of placing the Subconscious at the service of the conscious will. Upon returning to the Physical Body, after sleep, on returning to the normal vigil state, the student should not move in his bed, since in this movement of the Physical Body, the Astral body is agitated and the memories are lost. In such a moment the student should practice a retrospective exercise to remember where he was, the places where he traveled, and the things he learned while acting in the Astral Body.
Logos, Mantram, Theurgy, 1959 also in Desire and Will, The Keys of Astral Travel
A practice
Upon waking from normal sleep, every Gnostic student should do a retrospective exercise on the process of sleep, to remember all those places he visited during the hours of sleep. We already know that the ego travels a great deal, going to where we have been, repeating all that we saw and heard. The Masters instruct their disciples when out of the physical body.
The Perfect Matrimony, 1950 (ed. 1966) also in The Keys of Astral Travel, The Perfect Matrimony
A practice
This invocation is repeated thousands of times supplicating to the Master Lakhsmi to take you consciously out of the physical body and to teach you how to travel consciously in the astral body. After making this invocation, recite the Sanskrit mantra thousands of times with the mind concentrated on the Christ. Fall asleep calmly while making the invocation. When you wake up, practice a retrospective exercise to remember where you were, where you walked, with whom you were speaking etc.
The Perfect Matrimony, 1950 (ed. 1966) also in The Keys of Astral Travel, The Perfect Matrimony
Using a fair amount of didactics, the professor taught us a certain marvelous retrospective exercise.
The Three Mountains, 1972 also in The Keys of Astral Travel
A practice
He advised us never to move in bed at the exact instant of awakening, explaining to us that with such a movement the astral body is agitated, and the recollections are lost. It is unquestionable that during the hours of sleep the human soul travels outside the physical body; it is important not to forget our intimate experiences when returning to the body.
The Three Mountains, 1972 also in Awakening, The Keys of Astral Travel
A practice
He suggested to us to practice a retrospective exercise at that precise moment with the aim of remembering facts, occurrences and places visited during dreams.
The Three Mountains, 1972 also in The Keys of Astral Travel
I solemnly declare that such a psychical exercise had astonishing results, because my recollections became more vivid, intense and deep.
The Three Mountains, 1972 also in The Keys of Astral Travel
A practice
When you awake from your dream, then practice a retrospective exercise in order to remember your astral experiences.
Occult Medicine and Practical Magic, 1955 (ed. 1978)
A practice
Asana: The student will lie down on the ground on a mat or carpet. Spread out your arms and legs in the form of a five pointed star. Relax your entire body. Think of nothing. Put the blank mind. The student will concentrate on his Inner God and begin to pray the Our Father very slowly, considering the meaning of each word, meditating profoundly on the meaning of each petition, dozing off to deep sleep while meditating on every word, every phrase, adoring…, adoring…, adoring…
Esoteric Course of Kabbalah also in The Keys of Astral Travel, The Science of Meditation
A practice
When the student wakes up from sleeping he should not move… Practice a retrospective exercise in order to remember your internal experiences; where you were, where you went in the astral body, what you did, what you saw, etc., etc., etc. This exercise must be carried out daily, without ever tiring of it. You shall be able to see and hear the great inner realities.
Esoteric Course of Kabbalah also in Awakening, The Keys of Astral Travel
A practice
I.A.O. is hidden and combined in these sacred mantrams of the Kabbalah. The disciple must fall asleep mentally vocalizing these four kabbalistic mantrams. Upon waking up from one’s normal sleep it is necessary to practice a retrospective exercise in order to remember what we saw and heard while dreaming.
Esoteric Course of Kabbalah also in The Keys of Astral Travel
A practice
Our disciples, upon awakening from their material sleep, must not move, because with the body's movement the astral body is stirred, and recollections are lost. Upon awakening, disciples must make an effort to remember all those places where they were while their bodies were sleeping. They must make an effort to remember all their past experiences on the astral plane. Our disciples must not recount their experiences to anyone.
The Mysteries of Life and Death also in The Keys of Astral Travel
A practice
Upon waking up physically in the morning, after your sleep, one must remain still in one’s bed, not move, because with any movement the psyche of the person, of the individual, is agitated, and the memories are lost; to be still in one’s bed, and then practice a retrospective exercise to remember meticulously the places where one walked, the people with whom one spoke, the state in which one was – whether asleep or awake– outside the physical body, etc. The very memories that he will be obtaining, will be indicating to him if he is awakening or if he is not awakening and to what degree he is awakening. One goes on realizing it by oneself, through one’s own effort.
The Fifth Gospel Gnostic Discipline for Awakening Interview – Mexico City – 1970 also in Awakening, The Keys of Astral Travel
10. When one unfolds at will, can he remember where he has been when they wake up. It is clear that if they do not remember, it is because they have not unfolded at will; since to me it seems impossible that a person who unfolds at will, who left the body intentionally, consciously, is not capable of remembering what they saw outside of their body. For example, when you leave your house for the office and then return to your house, do you remember what you saw at your office, the work that you performed, and the orders from your boss?
Beyond Death also in The Keys of Astral Travel
Well, madam, this is the same thing. Remember that your physical body is a house of flesh and bone. If you leave this house at will, you will see many things, and also if you return voluntarily, it is obvious that you will also remember everything that you saw and heard.
Beyond Death also in The Keys of Astral Travel
10 passages · 4 practices
He teaches that all memory is deposited in the subconscious, and that the retrospective exercise on waking is the key that joins the two rooms of the head, consciousness and subconsciousness. The disciple first orders the subconscious to tell everything seen and heard outside the body, then goes back over the night while still drowsy. He speaks of initiates who work in the temples during sleep and remember nothing, and of an operation on the ethereal body for those who cannot bring their memories back.
35. When the consciousness and the subconsciousness are united, one can then study all the marvels of the internal worlds and pass them to the physical brain.
Igneous Rose, 1954 also in Igneous Rose, The Keys of Astral Travel
36. It is urgent that our disciples join the two rooms of this marvelous tower of our head. 37. The key for this is the retrospective exercise.
Igneous Rose, 1954 also in Igneous Rose, The Keys of Astral Travel
A practice
38. When we awake after our dream, we must practice a retrospective exercise. This is in order to remember all the things that we saw and heard and all the works that we performed when we were out, far from the physical body.
Igneous Rose, 1954 also in Igneous Rose, The Keys of Astral Travel
39. This is how the two rooms of the consciousness and the subconsciousness are joined in order to give us great illumination.
Igneous Rose, 1954 also in Igneous Rose, The Keys of Astral Travel
A practice
45. Our disciples must not move themselves at the time of awakening, because with this movement, the astral body is agitated and the memories are lost.
Igneous Rose, 1954 also in Igneous Rose, The Keys of Astral Travel
A practice
46. As soon as he awakes on his bed, the first thing that the disciple needs to do is to practice the retrospective exercise in order to remember with precision all of his internal experiences. This is how internal wisdom is attained, when the two rooms of the consciousness and the subconsciousness are united.
Igneous Rose, 1954 also in Igneous Rose, The Keys of Astral Travel
All memory is deposited in the subconscious. Many Initiates work consciously in the superior worlds during normal sleep. Unfortunately, in the physical world they are not aware of this, because they do not have a good memory. We must learn how to handle the subconscious.
Esoteric Course of Kabbalah also in The Keys of Astral Travel
A practice
In the moments of waking up from sleep, we will command the subconscious as follows: “Subconscious, tell me everything that I saw and heard while outside of my physical body.” Next, do a retrospective exercise in order to remember everything you did while outside of the physical body. Compel the subconscious to work. Give it imperative orders obliging it to inform you. Practice this exercise upon awakening, while you are still sleepy and drowsy.
Esoteric Course of Kabbalah also in The Keys of Astral Travel
While the body sleeps, the ego lives in the internal worlds and travels to different places. In the internal worlds we are tested many times. We receive initiation in the internal temples. It becomes necessary to remember everything that we do outside the body. With the instructions given in this book every human being will be able to awaken consciousness and remember his internal experiences. It is painful to know that there are many Initiates who work in the Great Temples of the White Lodge whilst their physical body sleeps, and yet they do not remember anything because their memory is atrophied. Here you have the exercises to develop the memory. Practice in tensely. Make the subconsciousness work. Awaken the conscious ness, and put the supraconsciousness into activity.
The Perfect Matrimony, 1950 (ed. 1966) also in Awakening, The Keys of Astral Travel
The disciples who cannot remember their astral experiences must submit their ethereal body to a surgical operation which the Nirmanakayas perform in the first hall of Nirvana (the first subplane of Nirvana referred to in Theosophy). After this operation, the disciple can take into his astral travels the ethers which he needs in order to bring back his memories.
Occult Medicine and Practical Magic, 1955 (ed. 1978) also in Chesed, The Keys of Astral Travel
8 passages · 7 practices
He gives the exercise as a stage of Dream Yoga. It begins while one is still drowsy, following the dream back from its last image, and when nothing is left it starts from the first thought on waking. Every fragment is written in a notebook kept under the pillow, and he says the discipline cannot go further without a perfect memory of the dreams.
A practice
During the hours of ordinary sleep all human beings act and travel in their astral body; however upon awakening, not all of us remember what we saw, heard or did while acting within that body. Therefore, in the mornings, upon awakening from one’s dreams, one must perform the effort to remember all which one had dreamt. One’s dreams are nothing more than experiences within the astral world. One must carefully take note of all of them in a notebook.
Aztec Christic Magic, 1973 also in The Keys of Astral Travel
A practice
When one wakes up, one does not have to move, because any movement shakes up our “values,” and then the memory [of our dreams] is lost.
The Secret Doctrine of Anahuac, 1974 also in The Keys of Astral Travel
A practice
A retrospective exercise is needed in those moments when we want to remember our dreams.
The Secret Doctrine of Anahuac, 1974 also in The Keys of Astral Travel
A practice
The Gnostic has to take notes — carefully — of the details of the dream or dreams in the notebook or pad, which he placed under his pillow. In this way, he will be able to have a detailed record of his inner progress in “Dream Yoga.”
The Secret Doctrine of Anahuac, 1974 also in The Keys of Astral Travel
A practice
Even if there are only vague fragments of the dream or dreams in our memory, these must be thoroughly recorded.
The Secret Doctrine of Anahuac, 1974 also in The Keys of Astral Travel
A practice
When nothing is left in the memory, the retrospective exercise must be based on the first thought we had at the moment we awakened. That thought, obviously, relates to the last dream.
The Secret Doctrine of Anahuac, 1974 also in The Keys of Astral Travel
A practice
We must point out that the retrospective exercise should start before completely coming back to the vigil state, when we are still drowsy, to try to follow the dream sequence. The practice of that exercise always starts with the last image that we had moments before coming back to the vigil state.
The Secret Doctrine of Anahuac, 1974 also in The Keys of Astral Travel
We will terminate this chapter with the serious statement that it is not possible to go beyond this stage of the Dream Yoga discipline unless we have obtained the perfect memory of our dream experiences.
The Secret Doctrine of Anahuac, 1974 also in The Keys of Astral Travel
7 passages · 6 practices
He gives the evening form: at nightfall or at the hour of meditation, with the body relaxed, go back over the day to find the manifestations of the ego, reconstruct them, number them and work on each in turn for as long as its gravity needs. Done before sleep until one defect is fully conscious, it disintegrates that defect. He adds that lucidity in the exercise needs many “I’s” already eliminated, and that applied to present and past lives it shows the one “I” behind the same mistake.
A practice
The reader, who has closely followed the entire course of our investigations, will comprehend that Spiritualism, with its mediums or Necromancy, with its laboratories, would not have served us to carry out these transcendental Invocations of High Theurgy. Unfortunately, there are many students who would like to see, hear, touch and feel these things but their complementary faculties are damaged. Many are the people who would like to consciously “leave” in the astral body, and suffer the unutterable because they do not achieve it. The clue, which we gave in our First Chapter, with the Mantram “FARAON”, is formidable. The important thing is to never give up: to persevere, not to become tired, until one succeeds. During the normal hours of sleep, every human body is outside the physical body. The Inner being intervenes in the internal worlds, to make us comprehend integrally all the processes of daily life, for example: business that we carried out during the day, words that we uttered, emotions we experienced, etc. Unfortunately, we live in an unconscious manner daily. We do not comprehend the triple reach (physical, psychic and spiritual), of each of our actions, of each of our words, of each one of our daily sentiments. Then the Inner Being intervenes during sleep to make us see in a symbolic form, the triple reach of all the events that we realize during our daily lives. Therefore, human souls move, during sleep, in that symbolism. Those symbols are the so-called DREAMS. If we lived completely conscious of each action of our daily lives, if we comprehended the triple reach of each act of our daily lives, if before going to sleep we were to do a retrospective exercise to make total and absolute “conscious conscience”, of a determined defect, then that defect disintegrates. We remain free of it! The important thing is, therefore, that the dreamer awakens in the Internal Worlds during nor mal sleep, during nocturnal sleep, without “mediumisms”, without “hypnotisms”, etc.
Esoteric Treatise of Theurgy, 1959 also in Awakening, Esoteric Treatise of Theurgy, The Keys of Astral Travel, The Science of Meditation
A practice
We must have order in the work and precision in the elimination of the defects. For example, during the day, the defects of lust in the morning, of pride in the afternoon and anger at night have manifested themselves to one. Indubitably, we are seeing a succession of facts and manifestations. Therefore, we ask ourselves: How and on what defect that became manifested during the day should we work?
The Revolution of the Dialectic also in Anger
A practice
Really and truly, the answer is simple. At nightfall or at the hour of meditation, with the body relaxed, we move on to practice the retrospective exercise on the facts and manifestations of the ego during the day. Once reconstructed, put in order and numbered, we proceed with the work of comprehension.
The Revolution of the Dialectic also in Pride, The Science of Meditation
A practice
First we will work on an egotistical event to which we could dedicate some twenty minutes; then, another psychological event to which we could dedicate ten minutes, and fifteen minutes to another manifestation. It all depends on the gravity and intensity of the egotistical events.
The Revolution of the Dialectic also in The Science of Meditation
A practice
After about five years, we have the luxury of using the retrospective system to apply it to both our present life and our past lives. Then we will see with great astonishment that again and again we make the same mistake. We will discover a key “I” that in every existence has always made the worst mistakes, that is always specified by a certain crime, and that has been the axis of all our previous existences.
The Fifth Gospel Didactics for Buddhist Annihilation Conference at the end of the Missionary Course – Guadalajara, Jalisco. Mexico – From June 15 to August 30. 1976 also in The Science of Meditation
But, obviously, in order to practice this retrospective exercise with certain lucidity, one has to have eliminated first many “I’s”. In no way could I believe that the fundamental psychological trait could be discovered if one has not intelligently used the retrospective system. But to truly use it lucidly, we also need to be sincere. When the Consciousness is too trapped within the “I’s”, there is no lucidity. Then, the retrospective exercise in those conditions turns out to be incipient, if not fantastic or wrong. That is, then, my concept. Let us see, brother, you speak.
The Fifth Gospel Didactics for Buddhist Annihilation Conference at the end of the Missionary Course – Guadalajara, Jalisco. Mexico – From June 15 to August 30. 1976 also in The Science of Meditation
A practice
Master: One has to have order in the work, of course, I agree. But, in any case, when night comes, with a relaxed body, of course, you will move on to practicing the retrospective exercise, if not on all your existence or previous existences, at least on the day. So you are going to visualize, to reconstruct the events of the day. Once reconstructed, numbered, duly classified, you will proceed to the work. First, an event, to which you can devote, say fifteen minutes, twenty; another event, to which you can devote half an hour; another, to which you can devote five minutes; another, to which you can devote ten. It all depends on the seriousness of the events. So once ordered, you can work on them at night calmly and in order.
The Fifth Gospel Didactics for Buddhist Annihilation Conference at the end of the Missionary Course – Guadalajara, Jalisco. Mexico – From June 15 to August 30. 1976 also in The Science of Meditation
6 passages · 3 practices
He gives this form for the month of Cancer: before falling asleep, go back over one’s own life from the end to the beginning, as a film run backwards or a book read from its last page. Its objective is to know oneself, to see one’s good and evil actions and to study the lunar ego. It reaches birth and, with a greater effort, joins it to the death of the previous body; if the student falls asleep in it, so much the better.
The disintegration of all the elements that constitute the physical body, originate a very special vibration, which invisibly passes through time and space. Exercise will permit us to remember our present life and the previous one and the past existences.
Esoteric Treatise of Hermetic Astrology, 1967 also in Return and Reincarnation
The Retrospective Exercise permits us to become conscious of our own Lunar Ego, of our own errors. Let us remember that the Ego is a bunch of memories, desires, passions, anger, covetousness, lust, pride, laziness, gluttony, self-esteem, resentments, vengeances, etc.
Esoteric Treatise of Hermetic Astrology, 1967 also in Anger, Gluttony, Greed, Resentment & Generosity, Seventy Times Seven, The Science of Meditation
A practice
If the student falls asleep during the Retrospective Exercise, so much the better, because in the internal worlds, he will be able to know himself, remember his entire life and all of his past lives.
Esoteric Treatise of Hermetic Astrology, 1967 also in Return and Reincarnation, The Keys of Astral Travel
A practice
During the period of Cancer, our Gnostic disciples should practice, before falling asleep in their bed, a Retrospective Exercise of their own life, like someone who is watching a movie from the end to the beginning, or like someone who reads a book from the end to the beginning, from the last to the first page.
Esoteric Treatise of Hermetic Astrology, 1967 also in Awakening, The Keys of Astral Travel, The Science of Meditation
The objective of this Retrospective Exercise of our own life, is to auto-know, autodiscover ourselves, to recognize our good and evil actions, to study our own Lunar Ego, to make Conscious the Subconscious.
Esoteric Treatise of Hermetic Astrology, 1967 also in The Keys of Astral Travel, The Science of Meditation
A practice
It is necessary to arrive in a retrospective manner at our birth and remember it. A superior effort will permit the student to connect his Birth with the Death of his previous physical body. Drowsiness combined with Meditation, with the Retrospective.
Esoteric Treatise of Hermetic Astrology, 1967 also in Awakening, The Keys of Astral Travel, The Science of Meditation
10 passages · 1 practice
He explains why people do not remember their past lives: the consciousness is asleep, and they are never at home in themselves. Whoever awakens it can remember them here and now, and for him the return is a fact and not a theory; he names the path of sanctity as the way to that awakening. The whole of past lives cannot be remembered before the ego is destroyed.
People do not remember their previous lives because they have the consciousness asleep; if they had it awakened, it is clear that they would remember their past lives.
Beyond Death also in Return and Reincarnation
The return to this world after death is, for some, just one more theory, for others a dogma, a guffaw, a superstition or a belief; but for those of us who remember our past lives, the return is a fact. This signifies that only by remembering our previous existences will we be able to prove the crude reality of the reincorporation or return to this valley of tears. However, we repeat, it is only possible to remember our past lives by awakening consciousness.
Beyond Death also in Return and Reincarnation
A practice
Following the path of sanctity is the way to awaken the consciousness. Put an end to your errors, repent for your wrong actions; become pure in thought, word, and deed. I guarantee that when you have attained true sanctity your consciousness will be awakened.
Beyond Death also in Awakening, Return and Reincarnation
Those who awaken consciousness do not need to wait for the moment of death to remember past lives. They can remember them in life, here and now.
Beyond Death also in Return and Reincarnation
By awakening the consciousness we can all prove the Law of the Eternal Return. We have systems, methods to awaken the consciousness; the person who is awake can remember all of his past lives. For those who remember their past lives, the Law of the Eternal Return is a fact.
Beyond Death also in Awakening, Return and Reincarnation
So, those of us who are here, undoubtedly, lived in the past and now we are alive. In a remote past, possibly in one of the past centuries, we were also alive. What happens here, is that nobody can remember their past existences, if they have not first awakened their Consciousness. By awakening the Consciousness, we confirm the concrete fact that it is not the first time that we exist, that we already existed in the past and in past ages, and in ancient ages as well. When one returns, when one comes back to the world, one naturally forgets the past existence, but that does not mean that we have not had a past existence.
The Fifth Gospel Analysis of the Human Psyche Public Lecture – 1977 also in Awakening, Return and Reincarnation
Master: Obviously, if we waited first to remember our past lives and then begin to destroy the Ego, we would reach a dead end, because it is not possible to really remember the totality of past life experiences if one has not destroyed the Ego.
The Fifth Gospel The Wonders of Awakened Consciousness Public Lecture – 1975 also in Return and Reincarnation
People do not remember their previous existences because they are not in their psychological house, because they are outside of it.
The Revolution of the Dialectic also in Return and Reincarnation
Why do persons, people, not remember their previous lives? But how are they going to remember them if they are not at home! Can one perhaps remember something that one has not experienced?
The Fifth Gospel The Metaphysical Value of Knowing How to Listen also in Return and Reincarnation
“To be at home”. Who knows what it is to “be at home”? I refer to this “home”, to the human person. Normally, the being walks away from home; so how could past existences be remembered if we were always away from home?
The Fifth Gospel The Metaphysical Value of Knowing How to Listen also in Return and Reincarnation
16 passages · 11 practices
He gives the exercise over the whole life: the day’s last events first, then the days, months and years before, as a book read from the last page, down to the first years of childhood. Those years are hard to reach, so the exercise is carried into the doze between vigil and sleep, when one is in contact with the subconscious where the memories are kept. In that state it can go on past birth to the last scenes of the previous life and the lives before it.
A practice
264. You can perform the retrospective exercise daily, in order to meticulously remember all the incidents that occurred the previous day, and to inversely remember all the events that occurred eight days before, fifteen days, one month, two months, one year, ten years, twenty years, etc., until precisely remembering all the events of the first years of our childhood.
Igneous Rose, 1954 also in Igneous Rose, The Keys of Astral Travel, The Science of Meditation
A practice
265. When the student reaches the first three or four years of his childhood during the retrospective exercise, then it is very difficult for him to remember the events of the first years of childhood.
Igneous Rose, 1954 also in Igneous Rose, The Keys of Astral Travel, The Science of Meditation
A practice
266. However, when the student reaches this point, he should then practice the exercise during the transition between vigil and sleep.
Igneous Rose, 1954 also in Igneous Rose, The Keys of Astral Travel, The Science of Meditation
267. Then, in visions during his dreams, he will meticulously remember all the details of his childhood, because when dreaming, we are in contact with the subconsciousness where all our memories are stored.
Igneous Rose, 1954 also in Igneous Rose, The Keys of Astral Travel, The Science of Meditation
A practice
268. When we take advantage of the state of transition between vigil and sleep, this procedure of internal retrospection can be prolonged until we remember the instances that preceded the death of our past physical body, and the last painful scenes. While continuing the retrospective exercise, we continue to remember our entire past reincarnation and all the past reincarnations that preceded it.
Igneous Rose, 1954 also in Igneous Rose, Return and Reincarnation, The Keys of Astral Travel, The Science of Meditation
269. This exercise of profound, internal and delicate retrospection permits us to remember all our past lives.
Igneous Rose, 1954 also in Igneous Rose, Return and Reincarnation, The Keys of Astral Travel, The Science of Meditation
A practice
102. The disciple submerged in profound meditation should carry out a retrospective recapitulation of all the events that have occurred in his lives, from the present to the past.
Manual of Practical Magic, 1954 also in Manual of Practical Magic, Return and Reincarnation, The Keys of Astral Travel, The Science of Meditation
A practice
103. The disciple should try to remember all transpired events in a reverse order, beginning with the last ones until going back to the first events of his infancy. 104. We can remember all memories of our infancy by practicing the retrospective exercise during those instants of dozing off.
Manual of Practical Magic, 1954 also in Manual of Practical Magic, Return and Reincarnation, The Keys of Astral Travel, The Science of Meditation
A practice
105. In those instants we can exert ourselves to recall the last experiences of our past reincarnation.
Manual of Practical Magic, 1954 also in Manual of Practical Magic, Return and Reincarnation, The Keys of Astral Travel, The Science of Meditation
A practice
106. So, in a retrospective order, we can review our entire past and past reincarnations. 107. The important thing is to practice this retrospective exercise during instants of dozing.
Manual of Practical Magic, 1954 also in Manual of Practical Magic, Return and Reincarnation, The Keys of Astral Travel, The Science of Meditation
112. In moments of dozing, the Soul comes out of the physical body and travels throughout the suprasensible worlds.
Manual of Practical Magic, 1954 also in Return and Reincarnation, The Keys of Astral Travel
113. We relive our past reincarnations in the internal worlds.
Manual of Practical Magic, 1954 also in Return and Reincarnation
A practice
The disciple, sunk in profound internal meditation, begins his exercise as follows: He tries to remember in detail the last incidents of his life that happened during the day; then he will recall memories of yesterday; immediately those of the day before yesterday, and so on successively. Therefore, he should apply his retrospective perception and attention to the entire drama of his life. He will end up remembering the last 15 days; the last month; month before last, last year, the year before last, etc. always in a retrospective manner, as one who is reviewing the contents of a book, from the last to the first page without skipping any of the pages in between. It happens that on trying to remember the first seven years of one’s life as a child, the retrospective exercise becomes more difficult. However, we must admit that all the incidents, all the representations of that period of our infancy are deposited in the “Subconscious Pocket,” and the important task is to bring out to the light of the conscience, those memories from the depth of that “Pocket.”
Logos, Mantram, Theurgy, 1959 also in Clairvoyance, The Science of Meditation
A practice
This is only possible during the act of going to sleep. Every human being comes in contact with the Subconscious during sleep. Therefore, during those moments of falling asleep, the disciple will combine that Retrospective Exercise with sleep. He will make great efforts to remember, we repeat, all the incidents of his life until he arrives at the time when he was seven years old, always in a regressive manner. He will review year by year, from the seventh to the first year, and then back to the instant he was born. You can be completely sure that all memories will return little by little, after arduous efforts and numerous and indefatigable retrospective exercises, night after night.
Logos, Mantram, Theurgy, 1959 also in Return and Reincarnation, The Science of Meditation
A practice
There is a system for remembering our past reincarnations: this system is the retrospective exercise. The disciple lies in his bed every night, and then practices retrospective exercises. The disciple begins by remembering everything that happened one hour before he went to bed, two hours before, every moment of the afternoon and the morning throughout the day.
The Mysteries of Life and Death also in Return and Reincarnation, The Keys of Astral Travel
In meditation you wanted to remember your past lives; you became a little sleepy and then your soul left the body of flesh and bone. Then came the various scenes, memories from the past. I invite you to comprehend that certainly you were an Aztec inhabitant in Ancient Mexico. Now you saw how they judged many criminals, and afterwards it is obvious that they were sacrificed to the Gods.
Beyond Death also in Return and Reincarnation
13 passages · 11 practices
He gives the mantrams combined with the exercise: RAOM GAOM, vocalized mentally in the retrospection to open the memories of the subconscious, and RA OM, with which the student who has reached his birth makes the leap to the last instant of the previous existence. The vowel A develops the pulmonary chakras that let one remember past lives. He adds meditation on the syllable AN, the syllables of childhood sung while falling asleep, and a pranayama before lying down to remember.
A practice
300. The mantras of the peppermint permit us to remember our past reincarnations. 301. These mantras are “RAOM GAOM”. These mantras can be vocalized mentally during the retrospection exercises performed in profound meditation, in order to remember our past lives.
Igneous Rose, 1954 also in Igneous Rose, Return and Reincarnation, The Science of Meditation
302. The mantras RAOM GAOM permit us to open the closed records of Nature’s memory in order to remember our past reincarnations.
Igneous Rose, 1954 also in Return and Reincarnation
A practice
108. Like this, in visions in our sleep, we shall remember all our past lives. 109. The pulmonary chakras permit us to remember our past lives. These chakras are developed with the vowel “A”, like this: 110. AAAAAAAAAAAAAA………….
Manual of Practical Magic, 1954 also in Manual of Practical Magic, Return and Reincarnation, The Keys of Astral Travel
A practice
111. The mantram “CHAS” is effective to develop the pulmonary chakras.
Manual of Practical Magic, 1954 also in Return and Reincarnation, The Keys of Astral Travel
A practice
The vowel “A” awakens the pulmonary chakras in order to remember past existences. They are vocalized by sustaining the sound very lengthily for each one, combining vocalization with pranayama, mentally. One can vocalize in the following order, I.. .E. . .O.. .U.. .A... One will mentally imitate the sound of the air, hurricane, or breeze; each letter should be vocalized separately.
The Greater Mysteries, 1956 also in Alchemy, Return and Reincarnation
A practice
Mozart placed these syllables in his marvellous opera. The disciple must fall asleep assuming an infantile attitude while remembering the first years of his childhood and then mentally singing the sacred syllables.
The Aquarian Message, 1960
A practice
The student can utilize the following Mantrams, combining them with the Retrospective Exercise: RRRRRAAAAA... OOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM They should be vocalized as follow: RAAAAAAAA... OMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM These Mantrams are vocalized mentally. Once the student has reviewed his present life, back to his birth, he will have been prepared to make the leap towards the memories of the last instant of his past Reincarnation. Of course, this implies one more effort, as well as greater expenditure of energy. The student will then combine sleep with the Retrospective Exercise and Mantrams. He will try to relive his past, in his memory, the last instant of that Reincarnation, the second to the last, old age, maturity, youth, adolescence, childhood. Be confident that you will achieve it! “Astral Unfoldment” is produced during these exercises.
Logos, Mantram, Theurgy, 1959 also in Return and Reincarnation, The Science of Meditation
A practice
It is urgent to know how to meditate profoundly and then practice what we learned during the hours of sleep. It is necessary not to move at the time of awakening because with this movement the astral is agitated and the memories are lost. It is urgent to combine the retrospective exercises with the following mantram; RAOM - GAOM. Each word is divided into two syllables. One should accentuate the vowel O. This mantra is for the student what dynamite is for the miner. Just as the miner opens a way through the bowels of the earth with the aid of dynamite, so also, the student opens a way to the memories of the subconscious with the aid of this mantra.
The Perfect Matrimony, 1950 (ed. 1966) also in Awakening, The Keys of Astral Travel, The Perfect Matrimony
A practice
PULMONARY CHAKRA. These are developed by singing the letter A, as follows: aaaaaaaa. Faculty: Remembrance of past existences.
The Three Mountains, 1972
A practice
The power to remember our past lives is acquired by meditating in the syllable AN and in the birth and death of vegetables and of all things.
Occult Medicine and Practical Magic, 1955 (ed. 1978) also in Return and Reincarnation, The Science of Meditation
5. The vowel ‘A’ carries the blood to the lungs and grants us the power of remembering our past reincarnations. At the same time, it heals the lungs.
Occult Medicine and Practical Magic, 1955 (ed. 1978) also in Return and Reincarnation
A practice
You must profoundly inhale the vital air, the Prana, the life, through the right nostril, and exhale it through the left nostril while mentally counting up to twelve. Then after, inhale through the left nostril and exhale through the right one, and vice versa. Continue with this exercise for ten minutes. In this practice, you must control your nostrils with your index finger and your thumb.
Runic Magic, 1969 also in The Science of Meditation, The Words He Uses
A practice
Afterwards, the Gnostic student must sit down or lay down in dorsal decubitus (on his back, facing upwards). With his body relaxed, he must concentrate and try to remember his past lives.
Runic Magic, 1969 also in Return and Reincarnation, The Science of Meditation
7 passages · 4 practices
He says the student who has relived his past reincarnations graduates as a clairvoyant, able to study the history of the Earth in the memory of nature, and that the exercise makes the frontal chakra spin. He describes his own way of reliving his existences in Lemuria: lying relaxed, asking the Divine Mother and bringing the mind to stillness. With imagination the last instant of the previous life can be known and that life recapitulated, so that the return is verified by experience.
The student who has been capable of reliving his past Reincarnations is graduated as a CLAIRVOYANT and, from that moment, will be apt to study in the Memory of Nature, the complete history of the Earth and its Races.
Logos, Mantram, Theurgy, 1959 also in Clairvoyance, Return and Reincarnation
This Retrospective Exercise causes the Frontal Chakra to spin.
Logos, Mantram, Theurgy, 1959 also in Clairvoyance, Return and Reincarnation
Nothing is achieved through simple theories. We are going to see it as it is; we are going to re-live lives that we had in Atlantis, past existences; that is the way to know, right?
The Fifth Gospel The Ephemeral Mechanisms of the Mind Lecture given to the brothers from El Salvador – Mexico City – 1970
A practice
I, for one, am going to tell you something. When I want to investigate, for example, about Lemuria, the first thing I do in my way –if it suits you, follow my example, I will tell you how I do it–: I lie on my bed very calmly in the shape of the flaming star –arms and legs open–, body fully relaxed, I close my physical eyes so that things of the outside world do not bother me. Then I focus on my Divine Mother Kundalini, I tell her: “I want to know about such a thing, for example, about Lemuria –it is an example, right?– I want information.” I beg and ask with true love, naturally, because one does not address the Mother in a dictatorial way –”ask a favour with a shotgun”, as they say out there–; no, but with true love. The son must address his Mother with love.
The Fifth Gospel The Ephemeral Mechanisms of the Mind Lecture given to the brothers from El Salvador – Mexico City – 1970 also in The Root Races, Whose Veil No Mortal Has Lifted
A practice
And after the plea, I try to bring my mind to stillness and in silence. If a memory comes to me in those moments when I try to do the practice, then I comprehend it, analyze it and forget it. If any desire, any idea comes up, then I do the same: comprehend, analyze, discern and forget, and in the end, the mind remains still.
The Fifth Gospel The Ephemeral Mechanisms of the Mind Lecture given to the brothers from El Salvador – Mexico City – 1970 also in Desire and Will, Imagination, Inspiration, Intuition, The Root Races, The Science of Meditation, Whose Veil No Mortal Has Lifted
A practice
Once it is still and in the deepest silence, then my Consciousness is unbottled, this is obvious. It goes out of the mind and I am going to live in Lemuria, and see the facts in Lemuria, and relive the existences that I had in Lemuria. Thus, I come out of meditation with all the information, I write it down and give it to you in printed books. How is this? What do you think about my system, my dear brothers?
The Fifth Gospel The Ephemeral Mechanisms of the Mind Lecture given to the brothers from El Salvador – Mexico City – 1970 also in The Root Races, The Science of Meditation
A practice
Continuing with this wonderful process related to imagination, one could try to know not only the last instant of his previous life, but also the penultimate one, the preantepenultimate one, the last years, the penultimate ones, up to youth, adolescence, childhood and thus recapitulate preciously the entire past life. Similarly, taking this further would also allow us to capture each one of our previous lives, and thus we would verify by direct, vivid experience, the reality of the Law of Eternal Return of all things.
The Fifth Gospel Secret Functionalisms of the Enlightened Mind Conference given to Gnostic students – 1975 also in Imagination, Inspiration, Intuition, Return and Reincarnation
11 passages · 5 practices
He calls retrospection the method of Gautama the Buddha, who gave one of his fasts to reviewing his whole life and his past lives. In one lecture he gives it step by step: the day’s last events, the years, the first years of childhood in the drowsy state, birth, the leap to the last moment of the previous life, and back through that life to its birth. Faith in the method comes from study and practice and grows with each memory recovered.
He dedicated the first fast to praying and meditating. The second fast was dedicated to reviewing his entire life and his past lives. The third fast was definitive; it was dedicated to putting an end to the mechanical associations of the mind. He did not eat, drank only water and every half hour he pulled out the hairs from his chest.
Christmas Messages, 1952–66
We need something else: we need to be able to remember our past lives; that is obvious. As long as we do not have the memories of our previous lives, we cannot say that we know, no! We will have the theory accumulated in our minds, but that is not really knowing.
The Fifth Gospel The Power of Conscious Faith Second Chamber – Mexico City – 1977 also in Return and Reincarnation
So what do we do? First of all, we need to investigate; there are methods to remember past lives. Gautama the Buddha taught the method of retrospection, and it is wonderful. But how could we, for example, have faith in that method taught by Gautama the Buddha? There is only one way. How? First, to study; second, to practice. From study and practice comes comprehension, and then, as a result, faith arises; and with this faith, we will successfully practice the retrospective exercise.
The Fifth Gospel The Power of Conscious Faith Second Chamber – Mexico City – 1977 also in Return and Reincarnation, The Science of Meditation
A practice
Such an exercise is easy, simple. One starts out lying in his bed with his body relaxed. He must remember and concentrate on the last events of the day, the penultimate ones, the pre-penultimate ones; and thus, retrospectively, remember, relive all the incidents of the day.
The Fifth Gospel The Power of Conscious Faith Second Chamber – Mexico City – 1977 also in The Science of Meditation
A practice
Then we will continue with the incidents of the day before, also retrospectively. Then we will continue, trying to remember what we did on the day before that; and thus, with that process, we will try to remember the last fifteen days of our lives, then the penultimate fifteen days, everything we did in the past month and in the one before that one, and what we did in one year and in ten and in twenty years.
The Fifth Gospel The Power of Conscious Faith Second Chamber – Mexico City – 1977 also in The Science of Meditation
A practice
We will strive to remember all the events of our life, always retrospectively. The problem appears when we reach the first five years of childhood. How can we remember the occurrences of our life when we were four years old, three, two, one? In what way? We will have no choice but to combine meditation with sleep. In the moments in which we feel predisposed to sleep, we will practice the exercise, trying to remember meticulously the incidents of our life when we were four years old, three, two, one... Memories will thus arise in the form of lightning, flashes, etc. Those first flashes –memories of the first years of childhood, as a result, first, of having known the practice, the study; and second, of having practiced the retrospective exercise–, those memories or those flashes, those flashing kind of visions will give us faith in the exercise –a solar kind of faith– and the more we remember the occurrences of the first years of infancy, the faith will increase.
The Fifth Gospel The Power of Conscious Faith Second Chamber – Mexico City – 1977 also in The Science of Meditation
A practice
And when we have remembered the totality of our life up to the very moment of birth, then we can make the leap to the last moment of the previous life. If we come to remember it, if we come to see ourselves surrounded by our relatives in the last moment, then faith will be revived, it will be even greater; we will say: “What an extraordinary exercise! I am happy with this practice!”
The Fifth Gospel The Power of Conscious Faith Second Chamber – Mexico City – 1977 also in The Science of Meditation
A practice
And as we continue with our retrospective exercise, we will remember the last years of our past existence, the penultimate years, the ones before the last, youth, adolescence, childhood, the moment we were born in our past existence. When we will achieve that, we will have a firm, unbreakable faith of a solar type.
The Fifth Gospel The Power of Conscious Faith Second Chamber – Mexico City – 1977 also in Return and Reincarnation, The Science of Meditation
Someone could come and tell us that this exercise is useless and we would laugh at the one who says so. The best reasoner could come to try to destroy us and we would laugh at the reasoner; faith, the product of study and experience, will sustain us. Then we would say: “I know the Law of the Eternal Return of all things,” but we would no longer say it in the merely chimerical or merely intellectual or reasoning way, but we would now speak about it with knowledge of the subject. We could say: “I have returned and here I am!” and we would talk about it with such confidence that we would move many.
The Fifth Gospel The Power of Conscious Faith Second Chamber – Mexico City – 1977 also in Return and Reincarnation
Thus, we would have acquired faith in the retrospective exercise. This procedure, taught by Gautama Buddha Shakyamuni, allows us to remember all our previous existences; it is a wonderful exercise.
The Fifth Gospel The Power of Conscious Faith Second Chamber – Mexico City – 1977 also in Return and Reincarnation, The Science of Meditation
But it is one thing to hear an affirmation, an explanation, and another thing is the practice which you must perform. When you listen to the dissertation on such an exercise, you receive information, you are in fact studying; but when you practice, you are practicing; and from study and practice comes comprehension, and as a result of comprehension, faith. This comprehension is given to us by the Third Logos, and this faith is the definitive result of experience, of verification and of proving.
The Fifth Gospel The Power of Conscious Faith Second Chamber – Mexico City – 1977
22 passages
He teaches that after death the retrospection is made for us: after the faint of three and a half days the dead relive the life just ended backwards, from old age to birth, in the places where they lived, with joy for the good and pain for the bad. The review is an inventory of that existence; when it ends the result is known and the judgment of the Tribunals of Karma follows. He describes a Gnostic brother seen reliving his life in this way, growing younger until he saw himself newborn.
The Tibetan Book of the Dead says : You have been unconscious for the last three and a half days. As soon as you recover you will have Consciousness” - what happened? Well, at this moment all Sansara (the phenomenal Universe) is in revolution. Admission to the electronic and Molecular Worlds at the moment of death is a tremendous test for man’s Consciousness. The Tibetan Book of ht e Dead states that at the moment of death all men fall into a faint that lasts three and a half days. Max Heindel, Rudolph Steiner, and many other authors sustain that in these three and a half days the DISINCARNATE EGO sees its whole life pass in the form of images, in retrospective order.
The Book of the Dead, 1965
At the moment of death and during the three and a half days following death, our Consciousness and inner judgement are liberated by electronic discharge. We then see our whole life pass in a retrospective form. The discharge is so strong that it makes a person fall into a state of coma and incoherent dreams. Only those who possess what is called Soul can resist the electronic discharge without losing Consciousness.
The Book of the Dead, 1965 also in The Secret Weapon of the Ego
When the three and a half days have passed the essence enters a state of Lunar-type Consciousness. At the moment of death we RE-LIVE our life in a retrospective form, under electronic discharge but in a very rapid and terrible way; in the Molecular World we again re-live the life that has just passed, but in much slower form because time in the Molecular World is slower than in the Electronic World.
The Book of the Dead, 1965 also in Hod
Under Lunar influence we re-live our life from old age to childhood and birth. Then the disincarnate visit all those places in which they related. They re-live each scene of their life, saying and doing the same as they did in life, feeling joy for the good works and profound moral pain for the bad.
The Book of the Dead, 1965
It is clear that when the retrospective work is finished we have full awareness of the final result of the life that has just passed. It is then, and only then, that all those who are not definitively lost make the decision to correct their errors and pay their debts.
The Book of the Dead, 1965 also in The Law of Karma
The Ego carries away its worldliness beyond the sepulcher of the physical body and the retrospective vision of the life that just passed away is very terrible.
Esoteric Treatise of Hermetic Astrology, 1967
After the Great Faint of three and a half days, the deceased have to slowly relive in a retrospective manner, the entire life that just passed.
Esoteric Treatise of Hermetic Astrology, 1967
The Retrospective Vision of Samsara (the life that just passed), in the instant of death and during the subsequent three and a half days, is of an electronic type and that is why each event can be measured with the Electronic time measurement.
Esoteric Treatise of Hermetic Astrology, 1967
The retrospective vision (of the life that has just ended) is made with the sole purpose of taking an inventory of that existence. This way, we know what we have and what we lack.
The Solar Bodies, 1968 also in Return and Reincarnation, The Law of Karma
After the inventory is taken (of the existence that has just ended), the judgment before the Tribunals of Karma is precise.
The Solar Bodies, 1968 also in The Law of Karma
Answer: Those who dwell in Limb should recapitulate the life that they just went through, re-live it slowly.
Yes, There Is a Hell, a Devil and Karma, 1973
Once such a retrospective process is concluded, all the actions of our previous life are simply reduced to mathematics; then the judges of Karma make us return to this valley of tears for the purpose of we making amends for our errors and so that we will look for the path that will lead us to the final liberation; that is all.
Yes, There Is a Hell, a Devil and Karma, 1973 also in The Law of Karma
These are the extraordinary post mortem states of those noble women who die in labour. After the usual faltering — documented in the Bardo Thodol — that succeeds the death of the physical body, those dead women revive the life that has just passed. Then they resemble suffering and horrible ghosts.
The Secret Doctrine of Anahuac, 1974
However, once the retrospective experiences of the previous existence conclude, the Essence, in the absence of the I, ascends from sphere to sphere until merging in the solar joy.
The Secret Doctrine of Anahuac, 1974 also in The Human Soul
Later, after the usual three day faltering, that soul had to relive in retrospect the finished existence.
The Secret Doctrine of Anahuac, 1974
Once the retrospective work ended, and he was informed about the result of his deeds, good as well as bad, he remained firm on his purpose of never coming back.
The Secret Doctrine of Anahuac, 1974
After death, we have to review the life that has just passed; we relive it in a retrospective way, with the intelligence and the heart. Having completed this retrospection, we must then present ourselves before the Tribunals of God, the Angels of the Law, called among the Orientals, the Lords of Karma. They will judge us according to our actions and, from this judgment, it could turn out that we will return once again to a new womb to be reborn in this world immediately, or that we may spend a period of vacation in the worlds of light and happiness or, lastly, that we may find ourselves obligated to enter into the interior of the Earth where the infernal worlds are with all their pain and torment.
Beyond Death also in Return and Reincarnation, The Law of Karma
The defunct live the first days in the house where they died, or in the clinic or hospital where they died, and after, since they have to relive the life that has just passed, it is clear that they will live in the places where they previously lived.
Beyond Death
But there comes a time when, after death, we have to relive or review the life that has just passed. All those groups of ghosts that constitute the Ego, sometimes penetrate and interpenetrate each other forming a facade of a personality, spectral, cold, somnambulistic. Sometimes those “I’s” divide themselves and walk separately from each other. That is, sometimes they come together and form a facade of a personality; sometimes they withdraw and go their own way.
The Fifth Gospel The Need to Develop the Inner Mind Interview – Mexico City – 1975
Usually, that Ego relives in its totality the life that has just passed, relives it in a retrospective way. There is the example of our brothers who have recently disembodied. We have our brother M. –the father of our brother E., a great paladin of the Gnostic Movement–, who was going to make a great mission in the United States. Unfortunately, he disincarnated. Surely, it is the work of the Father.
The Fifth Gospel The Need to Develop the Inner Mind Interview – Mexico City – 1975
At first, upon reviewing him, upon observing him psychologically, we realized that he was always in the house where he died, but he has been revisiting his life in a retrospective way. We recently saw him revisiting his life at the age of fifty something, when he was living in a house outside of Mexico; we saw him in a dark room, from there he came out reliving his life. He is not an unconscious brother, no; he enjoys thirty or forty percent of Consciousness, he realizes that something happened because in life he worked on the “I”. And as a sequence or corollary, he is conscious that he did disincarnate, that he is dead.
The Fifth Gospel The Need to Develop the Inner Mind Interview – Mexico City – 1975
Well, this brother, in the astral, will have to continue his processes of recapitulating the life he has just gone through. As he goes through his life in a retrospective way, in the astral, it will be seen on his face, in his physiognomy, this drama. He will progressively appear at ages 45, 40, 35, 30, 25, 20, 15, 5, until he will see himself as a newborn child.
The Fifth Gospel The Need to Develop the Inner Mind Interview – Mexico City – 1975
4 passages
He compares life to a film that the dead take with them and relive backwards in the astral world, in psychological space. On returning they bring it back and project it again on the screen of the world. For this reason he speaks of successive existences rather than successive lives.
In our last talk, we spoke a lot about the importance that life has in itself. We also said that a man is what his life is, and that this is like a film which, upon disincarnating, we take with us to retrospectively relive it in the Astral world; and upon returning, we bring it with us to project it again on the tapestry of the physical world.
The Fifth Gospel Intelligent Assimilation of Impressions also in The Law of Recurrence
Life is like a movie that apparently ends with death. Death is the return to the original starting point, with the possibility to project the same life again, on the screen of the world. In Buddhism we are told about successive lives, but I truly say that there are no successive lives. What there is, what really exist are successive existences, because life is the same. When the time of death comes, the film ends, we roll it up and take it with us into eternity. There we relive it in a retrospective way.
The Fifth Gospel The Verticality of Existence First Gnostic Youth Encounter – Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico – July 10. 1975 also in The Law of Recurrence
In the psychological space, our own life continues; there we relive it, I say, in a retrospective way. Later, we return, we get back in time, we reincorporate into a new organism –that is the Law of the Eternal Return of all things– and we return to project our own life again, to project it again upon the screen of this world.
The Fifth Gospel The Verticality of Existence First Gnostic Youth Encounter – Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico – July 10. 1975 also in Return and Reincarnation, The Law of Recurrence
I had to start with pure physical phenomena so that, at last, you would resolve to listen to the doctrine. You came because of simple curiosity, then you liked it. You have changed bodies and you are here, but some remember and some do not remember. Those who remember are also here, those who don’t remember are also here, but the same ones are here. You will tell me why we have met again. Very easy, I tell you it is very easy: because a man is what his life is. When a man dies, he takes his life, relives it in the astral world, and when he returns, he brings his life to relive it again in the physical world.
The Fifth Gospel The Binary Serpentine Power also in The Law of Recurrence
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How this was made. All fifty-two books were extracted — 73,105 paragraphs, 2,157,671 words — and swept for every form of the exercise: retrospective, retrospection and recapitulate; lying still on waking; remembering the night, the day, the past lives; the reverse order; back to birth; the mantrams. The common words were kept or dropped by what stood beside them, so the cosmic periods recapitulated and the mind that remains still in meditation stayed out. His own chapters on it were taken whole, and the paragraph either side of every hit was added, because the steps of the exercise often carry none of its words. That returned 470 candidate paragraphs in 36 books. Every one was read twice, by independent readers working from a written brief; they agreed on whether to print 96.2% of the time and on the class 93.8%, and a third reader, who saw neither verdict, settled the 18 they did not. 152 were judged printable and 145 are printed here; the rest are recorded with the reason each was set aside.
What was set aside. 143 paragraphs for being another subject, most often the other steps of meditation or the still mind; 38 of narrative; 19 where the exercise is named in passing; 19 that are the doctrine of return for its own sake, which Return and Reincarnation prints; 17 students' questions; 16 headings; 15 on how to leave the body, which is The Keys of Astral Travel's; 10 on the after-death for its own sake. The interpretation of dreams was held out for a booklet of its own.
The largest single body of it is spoken, not written. 35 of these passages come from the two Fifth Gospel volumes, across 13 named lectures.
Nothing of his is changed, and the repairs are silent. Six faults of the scan were mended — a word doubled, a stray line from another page, a misspelling of retrospective — and three passages were cut short at their edge: a student's question the scan ran into the end of an answer, a sentence the scan itself breaks off, and the start of another subject. The record lists each one. The Fifth Gospel's narrow columns split words at the end of a line, and which to close up was decided against the corpus.
No sentence of his is cut in half. Each range was extended against the corpus until his sentence closed, and a passage that was the second half of the one before it was absorbed into it; 27 ranges run over more than one paragraph. 1 paragraph was cut for standing twice: Dissolving the I repeats a sentence of the Christmas Messages.
123 passages also stand in a finished work, and every one is marked where it stands. Most of them are The Keys of Astral Travel, Return and Reincarnation and The Science of Meditation, each of which took the one use of the exercise that served its own subject. This booklet reprints them so that the whole exercise stands in one place.
Checked five ways. Every reader's note was proved to sit on the passage as printed. Every printed pair was compared as sequences. Every ragged edge was repaired or named. Every one of the 69 passages marked a practice was proved to carry its own instruction. And every passage was checked word for word against a fresh extraction of its book.