FALCON BOOKS INTERVIEWS

EXPLORING ENLIGHTENED LIVING

THROUGH HERMETIC MEDITATION

AND BEYOND

With David Paul Coleman

Falcon Books is presenting a series of interviews with seasoned Hermetic practitioners and those who follow a spiritual discipline. The aim being to share the wisdom, knowledge and understanding of these practitioners with those just beginning the path and as an inspiration to us all. The focus of these discussions are guided towards the spiritual seeker.

Presenting today an interview with David Paul Coleman who is a seasoned Franz Bardon practitioner and astrologer for over 20 years. David is the author of 26 Keys which is a comprehensive study guide into the workings of astrology, a great guide for Hermetic practitioners since David also explains this science from a Hermetic view point. He has facebook account named after his book and also a website where share insights into the astrological workings of the universe named journeys in the astral light. David also offers in-depth extensive natal chart readings. and offers instruction on magical practices.

I have included some background information about David for those who may not be familiar with his work:

David was born in 1970 in west London. He was a precocious child with respect to the occult and started reading about it at the age of 6 with the help and encouragement of his father. His experiences following his father’s death at the age of 12 were a catalyst that started him on the path of practice and teaching.

He created his first birth chart by hand in 1991 and began a 20-year process of integrating astrology with his magical practice. Starting a small business in 1997 called White Dog Horoscopes he entered the world of the internet and began connecting with others.

In the mid to late 90s he was also involved in giving talks and presentations in the UK on topics related to both magic and astrology and on a trip to Berlin he found the works of Franz Bardon and began his work with Initiation into Hermetics. He found that with dedication and persistence and a calm inner confidence the exercises progressed very swiftly. He found that he had a particular focus on astral magic and astral travelling, a gift that complimented his work with astrology. As a result of this his work with astrology was transformed and he changed the name of his business to Astral Visions.

Since that time, Astral Visions has produced hundreds of personally written, in depth reports on peoples astrology, many in excess of 400,000 words, and its companion website Journeys in the Astral Light has made available a large and ever growing collection of free material where topics are treated in depth. Davids work has also grown to include tuition and support for other initiates from many kinds of spiritual practices, given his broad knowledge of various areas, and his own path led him to move to Berlin in 1999.

In the spring of 2011 David wrote The 26 Keys, which presented a new way of approaching astrology inspired by his initiation and the practice of magic described in Initiation into Hermetics and the Practice of Magical Evocation. He was inspired to do so and lovingly assisted throughout by the beings of astrology, the spirits of the Earth Zone, the Elements and the planetary spheres, and by the Spirit of Bardon. The book poured out of him in 3-4 moons and was the first draft. The cover of the book was created by his friend, Florian Forster from a design David created in 1995. It was published in the summer of 2011 and is available through Amazon.

He has made a free practice manual of the core techniques of the approach available at Journeys. Nowadays David’s writing years are almost over, at least as far as Astral Visions is concerned, although he continues to post monthly articles at Journeys and is available for Skype consultations and private email discussions. His initiation is as ever ongoing and a joy to explore, long after he completed the course of instruction in Initiation into Hermetics.

(Taken from Goodreads).

Hello David and a cordial welcome from Falcon Books. Thank you for sharing with us your time and wisdom along this journey.

Falcon Books: I wonder if you could share with us your journey, how you first came across Bardon’s IIH and what led you onto the path of astrology for over twenty years now ?

David Paul Coleman: Sure. Before I was ‘seasoned’ (as you astrologically put it) I was lucky to have parents who not only did not oppose but actually encouraged my interest in weird things for young boys to be interested in. My father was the one to open the door first. So as a child, I was watched over and helped by him, I made myself familiar with almost every part of the occult. It was just something I was always passionately interested in. Obviously, I came across a lot of stuff about astrology and about magic in general, but Bardon never came up in the material. This was in the 1970s when I was about six or seven years old and living in the UK. The situation is different now, partly because of the Internet, but back then it was much more difficult to track down obscure writing, and Bardon is obscure, or at least was then. My decision to become an astrologer started in my college years with my mother handing me a book on the subject and me drawing up my own chart and recognising it immediately as an incredibly accurate reflection of my character – it was really a huge “wow!” moment for me – and I committed fully to it in my early 20s. Shortly after that, Bardon arrived. The books were first handed to me in the German language, the original language they were written in, and like many, I immediately recognised how important they were. The German friend who handed them to me knew I did not then understand any German, but said, “You probably already know everything in the first book, but I get the feeling that the second book has something important in it I need to pass on to you”. So he did, praise him, and he was right about half of the statement, the part that came from his feelings.

Falcon Books: How has going through IIH shaped your life?

David Paul Coleman: It is my life. I live it and breathe it. Therefore, it shapes everything and every moment. This was the case from the beginning.

Falcon Books: What were your greatest challenges following this path and how did you overcome them ?

David Paul Coleman: They are not over, they continue. Some were temporary but the most important ones are ongoing. Those which were overcome were overcome by following the advice I was given in the books, seeking my own perception of their truth, and by not giving up. Probably the most central challenge that is ongoing is the care and tending of the magical equilibrium. This is a task that any genuine magician devotes much of their time to and does not become complacent about. Another central challenge that is ongoing relates to the consequences that arise from an initiated awareness interacting with the world as it is today. When it is clear to the awareness that the choices humanity is making collectively are leading to a bad place, the challenge is to do something about it, or at least try to. My main concern here is with the ecosystem and the awakening of a collective healing response from us towards it, and ourselves, because the two are one.

If we are talking about astrology instead of magic, the biggest challenge was in finding a way to integrate my practice of astrology with my practice of magic. This was overcome only with time and practice. It resulted in the material eventually published in The 26 Keys. The biggest ongoing challenge as an astrologer for me is I think the biggest for all astrologers right now – the new discoveries about the extent of the solar system that it must assimilate. We are going to need a new paradigm for these things.

Falcon Books: What has been the most rewarding aspects of this journey?

David Paul Coleman: Being me and feeling happy about that. Also, the satisfaction of being able to help other people. Plus, the look on mum’s face when she read the dedication in The 26 Keys. It will stay with me forever.

Falcon Books: Would you please explain to us about astral light and the work that you do for those who do not know.

David Paul Coleman: Okay, for those who know nothing at all basically what I do is I provide a toolkit for people to explore astrology without astrologers being involved. Using this toolkit, you can gain your own personal and direct experience of your own astrology. Once you have that direct experience and understand what it can produce in your life you can start to influence it to create transformations of your circumstances and experiences.

For those who know a bit about magic or who have studied Bardon, the astral light is the subtlest substance of the astral world through which astrological influences are transmitted to the corporeal world. It is the Akasha of the astral world, and the toolkit first enables you to perceive it and observe it, and then to place causations within it or to consciously transform its karma. However, one is limited to only being able to perceive and work with the astral light that relates to their own being, and with the temporary current conditions represented by astrology as things move through the sky. Interacting with your own astrology this way ultimately attains the same ends as the Black and White Mirrors do, because you meet with your own positive and negative qualities and are guided into working through them. It is a natural method that was used throughout the ancient world in a different format to the way I have presented it today.

6. Falcon Books: For those unfamiliar with your book 26 Keys could you please explain to us this work and its purpose.

David Paul Coleman: Apart from providing you with a toolkit that I have outlined above, the main purpose of which is to provide a practical, personal experience centred, astrology for anyone with the time and interest to do so, the purpose of my book is to form a bridge between the worlds of magic and astrology and to regenerate and stimulate the discourse between them that existed in the ancient world. That’s why if The 26 Keys is a system (I call it an approach) it is a very open-ended, ‘open source’ system like IIH. It also serves to introduce the astrologer to the art of magic and the magician to the art of astrology. However, during the writing of this book a further major purpose was communicated to me. As well as seeking to revive the ancient connection between magic and astrology, I also seek to do my part in shaping the future of astrological practice and magical practice. Both astrology and magic are at major turning points in their evolution. Astrology, in particular, is heavily challenged to remodel its paradigms to reflect modern discoveries about our solar system. Magic is ideally suited to that task. Magic, on the other hand, is at a similar turning point in terms of its coming-of-age, and astrology is well-suited to guiding it towards its future as it did in the past. These also became important purposes in my writing.

Falcon Books: For those who are not familiar with astrology could you offer a brief breakdown of the forces that influence a human, for example, the ascending planetary influence within one’s natal chart. Also the significance in their role of development and growth.

David Paul Coleman: Oh goodness that’s a huge question! I will try! First, I would point out that the planets don’t actually cause anything. They just resonate through their positions with what is actually happening. The basic idea is that the entire sky above us acts like a mirror for the human awareness that is gazing at it (although seeing it is not required here, so the blind are also receptive, and it need not be human awareness either) and additionally it reflects what it is experiencing to that awareness in meaningful and significant ways. In modern terms, it’s a very quantum idea.

That said, the structure of the solar system is taken to be a mirror for the structure of human awareness. So, everything revolves around the Sun, except for the Moon, who revolves around the Earth. Therefore, the Sun represents the core of our being (our temporary spirit or individual mental body), and the Moon takes the light of that being and reflects it as different shapes (souls, an astral awareness) towards the Earth as well as serving to transmit other things to the Earth by passing through Her energetic field. She acts to shield us and all life on Earth in an immensely occulted way. These two are the primary influences in almost every form of astrology, no matter where it is found in the world (and there are many, many different kinds of astrology). It makes sense when you realise that we observed them first. The Lights are obvious physical representations of polarity (day and night, etc.) and therefore act as conductors for the Electric and Magnetic Fluids as they interact with life on Earth.

The other planets which revolve around the Sun represent the various types of awareness that a single being experiences and has access to. Venus, for example, is basically the emotional awareness we have access to, while Mercury is the intellectual awareness we have access to. The farther we go from the Sun, the less personal and more inclusive and broad (collective) these dimensions of awareness become. This is because they take such a long time to go around the Sun that they appear to be in the same place for a long period of time and therefore do not change much from human person to person in that time. The farther an object is away from the Sun, the more it influences things which live for longer periods of time, things which have a longer mortal lifetime, such as nations, mountains, religions or civilisations. Now consider that we just found a dwarf planet called Sedna that takes an estimated 11,400 years to orbit the Sun. She is named after the Inuit goddess of the sea and she is part of our solar system. These are not the only new arrivals by far, and there is more revelation to come. We are in a series of crises, a collective turning point.

The relationship between the various objects in the solar system is also important. As a simple example, when the Sun and the Moon face one another with the Earth between them, astrology calls it “Sun opposition Moon”, which is commonly known as a Full Moon. A Full Moon is taken to have a different meaning than a New Moon (in which our Moon is between Earth and Sun). These relationships and others like them can be applied to every object in the solar system, so we can also talk about “Jupiter opposition Saturn” (Earth would be between them) when that happens for example. These relationships astrologers call aspects. The most significant aspects measure distances of 0, 60, 90, 120 and 180 degrees of arc between any two objects. Think of this as how the planets and the two Lights are relating to one another within us, how they get along.

Signs and houses are spatial measurements used in a chart. Signs relate to where a planet is in relation to the path of the ecliptic (the apparent path of the Sun in the sky over a year), or if you prefer to its position against the stars in the sky, while houses (which I call temples) relate to where a planet is in the sky due to the rotation of the Earth (setting, rising, etc). These also influence the way an object is interpreted.

The entire system creates a complex, layer upon layer, that uniquely reflects the awareness that is being born in that moment. The significance of this fact in development and growth cannot possibly be overstated. It not only helps us to know who we are, it helps us to know what will make us happy, what is coming in our development and when, it shows us what things look like when we get it wrong, and supplies the remedy for those situations if that should happen.

Falcon Books: How can astrology assist us in IIH, in terms of aiding us going through the steps?

David Paul Coleman: A major help is with the timing. There are certain periods every year and every month in which it is more favourable to pursue certain exercises or set yourself certain goals. It can also be hugely helpful in sorting out the Mirrors, and in transforming them. Really, the list of ways it can assist is spectacularly huge and impressive.

Falcon Books: You mention in your blog post that astrology has enabled you to heal yourself and others could you expand on this for us please.

David Paul Coleman: Sure, but I don’t want to give away anybody’s personal details. A lot of the help that astrology can give people seeking to heal or troubled by physical, emotional or mental difficulties is in the preventative area. Its greatest power is in shifting the astral foundations of a problem (what we feel and think that empowers it) and its magic is incredibly powerful with emotional and mental problems like depression and shyness for that reason. Physical problems take time because you must generate a strong astral and mental volt in order to affect a physical change but in many cases this is also possible. It’s extremely good at preventing existing problems from worsening and at minimising the possibility that serious conditions will develop. One example I’m able to give here from recent times was how astrology helped me to identify when my own terminally ill mother was going to have a severe attack. Since I knew the 24 hour period in which this was likely to occur, I was prepared and was able to prepare others who would listen to me. In the event, she was saved from a major trauma. Healing is such a massive and broad topic that I could sit here for hours sharing similar stories with you involving astrology.

Falcon Books: As we know from Bardon’s of the planetary spheres, please could you explain the relationship between the physical planets and the planetary spheres.

David Paul Coleman: That relationship is a conceptual one. The planetary spheres are inhabited by their specific beings and entities, or Intelligences. It’s where they live. The physical planets which share names with the spheres we have named (there are many others) are connected to the spheres at the mental plane level, given that they share a name. However, the physical planets do not serve to act as the physical bodies of the planetary spheres. Or at least, not for its entirety. Probably the better analogy is to think of the physical planets as a thought or a single cell of the physical body of the planetary sphere, which is spread throughout the universe and all of time and space.

Falcon Books: What would you say the benefits are of having IIH training behind you and studying astrology as opposed to someone without that training form of training?

David Paul Coleman: It’s hard to say in general because everyone who goes through that training both starts out as and later becomes a different person, just as astrology maintains should be the case. In general, the development of the faculty of objective perception (being able to perceive the essence of things) would be an enormous benefit to chart interpretation. The magical work that the magician does with symbols would also give them a huge advantage in grasping the fundamentals of astrology (which is basically a symbolic language, more like hieroglyphs than words). If the magician is also interested in evocation, they will already be intimately familiar with many of the beings involved in our astrology.

Falcon Books: Through working with these planetary forces how do you guide others to overcome them?

David Paul Coleman: Love. Often also a lot of talking about the situation looking at it from the astrological points of view. It’s often immediately beneficial on a considerable scale for people to hear something like “Ah! You have Pluto on the ascendant, no wonder this is happening!” Immediately there can be relief and a change in attitude, as it can be extremely helpful to know that there is some kind of explanation for what you are going through. And then, digging deeper, you start to work with its transformative potential, seeing it as an experience you are having as you move through your life, one that has meaning and lessons rather than just being meaningless and randomly shitty, as many people might feel. So if I can perceive that at work, if I can see that path and its destination, I can try to find a way to help the other person see it too.

Falcon Books: In your experience is it possible to become totally free of such influences as Bardon states in PME.”…as one balances out the astral and mental aspects such forces do not compel the magician in such a way…..I would be interested in your thoughts on this.

David Coleman: Being totally free of these influences means you have left the physical plane behind you, at least the Earthly physical plane. When you are physically incarnate, whether you are a vegetable or a rock, a human or a tree, if you live upon the Earth you are subject to the current resonance of the solar system. There are ways to shield yourself from various aspects of that resonance, and we always have the capacity to transform it (and thus no longer act on itself destructively), but since it always exists for us we cannot be free of it, in that case, it transforms, and enlightens. We would carry it with us even if we left this planet, it’s a part of the occult anatomy of everything that is born or created in and upon our world. It’s like saying can we breathe without air. I am unable to recall or locate a passage in which Bardon says or even implies that total immunity to our astrology is possible. In PME he tells us that the stars incline but do not compel (at the end of the section titled ‘Magical Evocation’). This is also my view. Resonance is an astral phenomenon that is extremely receptive to influences that shape it. It is not like a dictation of what must happen. It’s more like what you feel when you want to dance to something. You get to choose the moves, or not to dance at all. Sometimes, though, the resonance for a certain thing can be extremely overpowering – “that music just always makes me cry, dammit!” – but it’s temporary, and it can never negate the intention of a magician, only complicate it or make it harder.

Rawn has written in his commentary that:

Astrological influences affect only those things that have corporeal existence. It is geo-centric. It does not matter one wit in the astral or mental realms, what position a certain planet is in on the physical realm. The only effect the magician might experience in regard to ritual timing is that the physical circumstances surrounding the ritual will be eased if the astrological influences are deemed favorable, or made more difficult if they are unfavorable. This (whether positive or negative) will be seen in the preparation of the ritual space and in the ease with which any physical effect, or any effect pertaining to the astral or mental body of a corporeal entity, will be accomplished. But to the well trained magician, these effects can be easily overridden.

“And I completely agree.”

Falcon Books: Have you ever come across someone’s natal chart that does not correspond to their personality make up or is contrary to it ?

David Paul Coleman: No. I have probably looked at tens of thousands of charts at this point. Every single one of them has been resonant with the personality and the life which it must grapple with and create a work of art from. Even someone like Bardon. The chart is a picture of what our lives look like when we are happy, as well as being a warning about what they look like when things go awry.

Falcon Books: Is there anything else you would like to add ?

David Paul Coleman: Yes, thank you, a few things do come to mind here. I would like to ask everyone who reads this to spend a few minutes in contemplation of the most important planet we have.

I would also like to encourage everyone who is taking on the monumental path of initiation, no matter what method they are using to do so, and to remind them to love themselves and to cherish every moment of their existence as a precious and irreplaceable thing. And then to turn that awareness upon the world around them, because we so desperately need it.

I’d like to thank my munificent patrons, the people who pay for my blog via Patreon, and the many other people who support my work physically and emotionally.

I’d also like to invite anyone who would like to contact me to do so, provided your messages are about astrology or magic. For the time being (I may withdraw it from sale in time) The 26 Keys is available through Amazon. In the future, I will hopefully be offering more ways for people to learn and share with me.

And I’d like to say thank you Falcon Books for giving me the opportunity to say these things.

To support David further in his research please view his Patreon Page.

To purchase Davids book 26 keys please click below:

wp_xyoc_wpbooklist_jre_davidpaulcoleman Filter by Authors... David Coleman Filter by Category Body, Mind & Spirit Filter by Subject Filter by Country Filter by Publication Year Range XX 20 19 18 17 16 15 XX 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 To XX 20 19 18 17 16 15 XX 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 Reset Filters, Sort & Search "All happy families are alike: each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." - Anna Karenina 1463617674 1 The 26 Keys: The Magic of the Astral Light1

26 Keys addresses some of the topics discussed here in much greater depth. To gain a better understanding of astrology and its workings this book will offer this and much more !

26 Keys presents a new and yet very ancient approach to astrology. Unlike the vast numbers of ‘how to do astrology’ books that have already been written, the course in this book is not merely an intellectual journey, but one which embraces the whole being in a dynamic magical interaction… Instead of being told about the influences over your life shown in a chart and having them described to you, this book enables you to actually experience the meaning of astrological influences for yourself and encourages you to draw your own conclusions. Within the pages of this book you will find all you need to begin exploring the Astral Light.