The occult is a subject which draws out much silliness and superstition from the masses, evoking a prejudice and avoidance of the subject. The occult is hidden knowledge, particularly of a spiritual nature. This hidden knowledge is not “hidden” because it is locked away behind big doors in a dusty book, for it is written upon the earth, the heavens, and the individual who is uniquely positioned between both. It is hidden because the individual must experience the heavens and the earth to read upon their face the knowledge of man and his place in the universe.

Upon the earth we find the cycles of the sun, the living land and the discovery of our personal consciousness. The path of the earth is also known as the native tradition. In the cult of Mithras the lion headed Aion holds two keys, one of silver and one of gold. The silver key opens the gate of cancer, the way of the ancestors, or the earth path. The ancestors, unlike vague aesthetics of “God” can be personalised and assimilated into the self consciousness, worked with in a personal level, each aspect of them evoking a deeper understanding of the individuality of the spiritual explorer.

These ancestors are often raised to the Gods, specific attributes reflecting the emerging identity of the individual. As such the earth path is the distillation and definition of the single unit, the definition of the identity of the personal “I”.

Within the path of the heavens we work with the heavens themselves, the angelic and stellar forces, as we take the first steps towards a cosmic consciousness. The path of the heavens is often called the hermetic path. In his other hand Aion holds a golden key to the gate of Capricorn, the way of the Gods. This path transcends the cycles of birth and death, allowing the Gods to descend to the earth.

In looking towards the heavens, the stellar glory of the sky, we are building a stairway to the encompassing aesthetic of “God” through the stellar/ angelic intelligences inhabiting these spheres, through this stairway the divine presence can descend.

The beginning of man saw his existence led by an unconscious group mind. From this we have established the dual paths of knowledge, one allowing a complete consciousness of the single unit individual through that individuals development, refinement, and recognition of their separateness, the other spawning from this refined consciousness of the self, a semi return to the collective/ group mind, but an informed reassembly of the body of light and a connection to the spiritual “I AM”.

Although the earth and heaven, native and hermetic paths seem altogether separate, and the mediums through which they are studied are often separate, they are essentially the polarities of the spectrum of Western esotericism, at the centre of which is the individual, balancing both.

As such, all human systems cannot but contain elements of both, but the approach can emphasis one over the other, and this emphasis is the difference of the development of the personal “I”, or an awareness and active participation in the spiritual “I AM”. Neither should be considered good or bad, or even one better than the other, only as different systems and processes for experiencing the knowledge of man, and by association, God.

It would be my personal thesis the individual should work with and balance both keys or paths to gain a full appreciation of the spiritual spectrum of the wisdom teaching of man/God.