Some Words of Encouragement from Fellow Travelers on the Path

 

Every now and then we receive some correspondence from people who have applied the various teachings presented by the Institute for Hermetic Studies and found them beneficial. Our recent post regarding the resolution of problems of a more metaphysical nature prompted several responses and we have been given permission to edit them for brevity and anonymity and share them with you below.

 

Dear Mr. Stavish,

Please, feel free to use my email in one of your posts. I like the fact that you post emails from people that you have helped. During our first session I mentioned the Offering Rite to you because I had read an email from someone you recommended it to, and that person said it had been very effective. If I had not seen that email I would never have known about the Offering Rite, so these emails are very helpful. They also demonstrate the effectiveness of what you teach, and how you teach it. There is a saying in martial arts circles regarding instructors: "you can spot a true Master by observing the quality of his students", and in relation to esotericism and the occult you could say that you can spot a true teacher by observing the results of their teachings. I look forward to reading your new post. Thank you.

 

 

Dear Mr. Stavish,

I just finished reading your latest post on VOXHERMES. The original post is one of the most interesting posts I have read, and I have read it a number of times. I hope that the people involved are okay, and I hope that nothing negative happens to you or your loved ones as a result of helping these unfortunate people. After reading your new post I really need to re-read your latest book The Inner Way- The Power of Prayer and Belief in Spiritual Practicesagain; you may have truly meant what you said about its contents when you said everything is contained within it ( not that I doubted you). I finished the 42 days of the Offering Rite you recommended to me. Two noticeable things occurred during the 42 day period. On the 35th day (5th January), which just happened to be my birthday, I had quite a bad argument with someone dear to me. It has been a long time since we have had an argument like the one that occurred. I won't go into the details, but basically things got quite heated and we both lost our 'cool'. During the argument I noticed that what I was thinking was influencing what I was saying, and what I was saying was influencing the responses I was getting.  I noticed a bit of 'distance' between my thoughts and my 'self', and I believe that if I had paid more attention to this distance, I could have stopped the argument in its tracks.

We said various things to each other and I stormed out of the room and headed to my bedroom, which is where I have been practicing the Offering Rite. As soon as I entered the room I noticed a sense of calm and composure, which usually does not happen to me so soon after an argument, as these things tend to stay with me for a number of days afterward. I felt fine after the argument and went to bed soon after. The next day I received an apology and things went back to normal in record time! I feel more motivated now to pay attention to the workings of my own mind; as you have told me a number of times, the only guarantee in the universe is Karma: cause and effect!

The second thing that happened also relates to Karma and the action of our minds. I went to my favourite shop to buy some incense on Monday. I paid for my goods and the girl behind the counter gave me my change. She was supposed to give me 9 Euros change, but accidentally gave me 14 Euros. I was turning to leave when I examined my change, and realised she had given me too much money. I immediately turned around and told her about the mistake, and she was very grateful. The important thing about this event was not the fact that I 'did the right thing', but that I am starting to feel my thoughts in a different way; I am trying to achieve congruency in relation to my Thoughts, Words, and Deeds [or Body, Speech, and Mind as the Tibetans say], as per your instructions. This event occurred on the final day of the Offering Rite.

The most striking thing about your latest post is the fact that others within the esoteric community were so unable or unwilling to help. It really makes we wonder about the efficacy of the material people are working with. The fact that these people turned to you is a testament to your knowledge and ability. I feel very fortunate that you have agreed to help me also. I just wanted to share these thoughts with you. In closing, I have not started the new practice yet, as I need to purchase a table for my chamber, and I need to gather some materials before I start. In the meantime, is there any problem if I continue with the Offering Rite? I quite enjoy performing it, as I feel as though I am actually doing something worthwhile, even if it is purely subjective in nature. I hope you don't mind me sharing these thoughts with you, your post got me thinking so I thought I would drop you a line. Thanks again, Mr. Stavish.

And from another student somewhere in the Mid-Atlantic States.

Dear Mr. Stavish,

With the posting about attacks and possession I was reminded of the assistance that you gave to me in March 2014 regarding my wife. I sent a thank you back then, but I realized today that I never updated you on our events. Summing up - she is fine now. I don't remember if I had ever mentioned that she'd been under the dominating control of some very bad people for about 5 weeks before she "escaped" and came back to our family. But I mention this because in the snippets of memory that she has flashbacks of, seem that she went through something akin to mind control with the use of modern drugs and hypnotic techniques.

 

At times my wife was normal and then her personality would shift and she would do things that later she didn't remember. I couldn't understand for the longest time why, if it was a ghost or demon, I couldn't banish it through regular ritual means. My belief is that these people whose influence she was under awakened something that she had bonded with as a young teen doing black magick [sic]. It had been given enough strength at times to subdue the generally protective influences of her higher self or conscience. And then Jenny became “Alter-Jenny” as a friend of mine started referring to her. This thing was technically part of her and not something could be simply gotten rid of.

I found only one thing that truly worked in starting the process of curing Jenny; prayers and magick [sic] that Jenny was unaware had been performed to help her - whether it was me or a friend - as long as she didn't know - it worked. To a point. The battle between the two sides of her caused a mental breakdown. She almost killed herself but provincial timing on my part stopped that. She signed herself into St Joseph's Hospital in E. Intense psychotherapy for one week and taking a low dose of Wellbutrin since has kept her psyche on an even keel ever since. I realize that this may be stuff you've encountered before and are just glad things worked out for me. But I did relay the gist of the story in case ANY of it was new and could in some way help someone else. Thank you again so very much for your assistance. I look forward to future postings from the Institute for Hermetic Studies.

B.D.

 

The above emails are somewhat common for us here at the Institute for Hermetic Studies. As a result we will making available some information that we have only discussed in our live seminars so that more people can benefit from it. Because of the length of our previous post, and this one, we will hold off on additional commentary and simply ask that you read these posts over again and let their importance sink in. In our next post we will discuss some of the points above, the Offering Rite and the Liturgy of Hermes in particular, and what they can mean for your spiritual practice and general happiness.

Until then.....