"Formulation of the Body of Light in Thelema"

based on Confessions, ch.26

1) Imagine an image of yourself, standing in from of you.
2) Transfer your consciousness to it.
3) Rise upward.
4) Invoking forces desired by the prescribed methods.
5) Observe their appearance.
6) Test their authenticity.
7) Enter into conversation with them.
8) Travel under their guidance to the particular part of the universe which you desire to explore.
9) Return to earth.
10) Cause the Body of Light to coincide spatially with the physical.
11) Reconnect them, using the sign of Harpocrates.
12) Resume normal consciousness.
13) Record the experience.
14) Test its value by the critical methods advocated in The Equinox.

Supplemental quotations

* "...the results of our magical experiments are naturally and necessarily very distinct from those which we obtain by ordinary methods. To begin with we must build up an apparatus of examination, and this we do by discovering and developing qualities in our own structure which are suitable for the purpose. The first step is the separation of (what we call, for convenience) the astral body from the physical body... All Magical action may be classed as under the formula of progression from the "0" to the "2"; in other words it is complete extraversion. The aspiring Magician only analyses himself for the purpose of finding new worlds to conquer. His first objective is the astral plane; its discovery, the classification of its tenants, and their control." (MWT, ch.LXXXIII)

* "The proper method is as follows: --- Develop the body of Light until it is just as real to you as your other body, teach it to travel to any desired symbol, and enable it to perform all necessary Rites and Invocations. In short, educate it. Ultimately, the relation of that body with your own must be exceedingly intimate; but before this harmonizing takes place, you should begin by a careful differentiation. The first thing to do, therefore, is to get the body outside your own. To avoid muddling the two, you begin by imagining a shape resembling yourself standing in front of you. Do not say: "Oh, it's only imagination!" The time to test that is later on, when you have secured a fairly clear mental image of such a body. Try to imagine how your own body would look if you were standing in its place; try to transfer your consciousness to the Body of Light. Your own body has its eyes shut. Use the eyes of the Body of Light to describe the objects in the room behind you. Don't say. "It's only an effort of subconscious memory" ... the time to test that is later on. As soon as you feel more or less at home in the fine body, let it rise in the air. Keep on feeling the sense of rising; keep on looking about you as you rise until you see landscapes or beings of the astral plane. Such have a quality all their own. They are not like material things --- they are not like mental pictures --- they seem to lie between the two. After some practice has made you adept, so that in the course of any hour's journey you can reckon on having a fairly eventful time, turn your attention to reaching a definite place on the astral plane; invoke Mercury, for example, and examine carefully your record of the resulting vision --- discover whether the symbols which you have seen correspond with the conventional symbols of Mercury." (MiTP, ch.XXVIII)

* "Travel also much in the Empyrean in the Body of Light, seeking ever Abodes more fiery and lucid." (Aleph)