Only the most advanced Hermetists are able to grasp the
Inner Teachings regarding the state of existence, and the powers
manifested on the Spiritual Planes. The phenomena is so much
higher than that of the Mental Planes that a confusion of ideas
would surely result from an attempt to describe the same. Only
those whose minds have been carefully trained along the lines
of the Hermetic Philosophy for years—yes, those who have
brought with them from other incarnations the knowledge
acquired previously—can comprehend just what is meant
by the Teaching regarding these Spiritual Planes. And much
of these Inner Teachings is held by the Hermetists as being
too sacred, important and even dangerous for general public
dissemination. The intelligent student may recognize what we
mean by this when we state that the meaning of “Spirit” as used
by the Hermetists is akin to “Living Power”; “Animated Force”;
“Inner Essence”; “Essence of Life,” etc., which meaning must not
be confounded with that usually and commonly employed
in connection with the term, i. e., “religious; ecclesiastical;
spirituelle; ethereal; holy,” etc., etc. To occultists the word “Spirit”
is used in the sense of “The Animating Principle,” carrying
with it the idea of Power, Living Energy, Mystic Force, etc. And
occultists know that that which is known to them as “Spiritual
Power” may be employed for evil as well as good ends (in
accordance with the Principle of Polarity), a fact which has been
recognized by the majority of religions in their conceptions of
Satan, Beelzebub, the Devil, Lucifer, Fallen Angels, etc. And so
the knowledge regarding these Planes has been kept in the
Holy of Holies in all Esoteric Fraternities and Occult Orders,—
in the Secret Chamber of the Temple. But this may be said
here, that those who have attained high spiritual powers and
have misused them, have a terrible fate in store for them, and
the swing of the pendulum of Rhythm will inevitably swing
them back to the furthest extreme of Material existence, from
which point they must retrace their steps Spiritward, along the
weary rounds of The Path, but always with the added torture
of having always with them a lingering memory of the heights
from which they fell owing to their evil actions. The legends of
the Fallen Angels have a basis in actual facts, as all advanced
occultists know. The striving for selfish power on the Spiritual
Planes inevitably results in the selfish soul losing its spiritual
balance and falling back as far as it had previously risen. But
to even such a soul, the opportunity of a return is given—and
such souls make the return journey, paying the terrible penalty
according to the invariable Law.
The Kybalian, pages 66-67