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Lesson Six: Consciousness Raising
>> Once you can practice Lesson Six pretty well, it seems like it would be more effective to use 'consciousness raising' when you charge things (like shields, gemstones, etc) rather than the previous method of visualizing spheres as in Lesson Four- is that correct? <<
:) Yes! This is really the essence of TMO. It's the process of shifting the focus of awareness sequentially and integrating all those levels of focused awareness into the Malkuth level (the final Heh of the "Ani, IHVH" sequence), which generates the Rainbow-hued Adonai Light. There's a definite learning curve or progression to the Lessons. The first four Lessons are what enable mastery of the fifth, and so on.
This is also the stage where *visualization* becomes raw *perception*. The levels of consciousness must be *perceived* and *experienced*, not just visualized.
At some point, this leads one to the "Final Form" of TMO in which the entire practice is a matter of shifting and unifying micro-focus within the larger Kethric Macro-focus, without uttering a word of the canticle, mentally, astrally or physically. One *becomes* the canticle instead of uttering it.
>> If so, is there any reason to use the 'visualizing spheres' method instead? <<
To me, they are like training wheels on your first bicycle. :)
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>> Lastly, it seems like using the 8T temple visualizations would help with Lesson 6 of TMO. Good idea? <<
As a starting place, perhaps, but what's really the most helpful will be the *feel* of each Temple. With TMO, what starts out as *visualization* must become *perception* and, most importantly, *experience*.
For example, with Binah and the first 'Heh', you want the Binah Temple *feel* of being rooted upon something solid and unique that is alive and conscious, surrounded by infinite space which is filled with an infinite number of other such Greater Selves. There is no sense of time, sequence or duration. "Below you", in the metaphorical sense, lies the realm of sequence and duration.
With Tiphareth and the 'Vav", you want the Tiphareth Temple's *feel* of detachment from the personal self "below" and dependence upon the Greater Self "above". You exist, *within* the sea of time as an Individual unit of awareness which emanates the personal self within the minutia of time-space.
And with Malkuth and the final 'Heh", you want that Malkuth Temple *feel* of solidity and enclosure. Of involvement with the immediate present moment of time-space and being at the center of things, so to speak.
I suggest that you read Lesson Seven. In that Lesson, I speak a little more about the visualizations/perceptions that accompany the five stations of the 'Ani-IHVH'.
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>> I'm a little confused where one's awareness should be while canting from Kether the Ribonno Shel Olam and Amen. Is the Adonai Light not travelling in the reverse direction compared with the other levels, that is, towards Kether on Ribonno Shel Olam and away from Kether on Amen. <<
No. You must remember that the *whole* procedure occurs *from the Kethric perspective*. First the Light is emanated from Kether to Malkuth with the "IHVH", all of which is perceived and experienced *from the Kethric perspective*. Then with the inhalation, with the awareness firmly rooted in Kether, the Adonai Light is drawn inward from the whole Creation, from Malkuth upward, and is concentrated into a point of Light within one's awareness *as* Kether (i.e., the "Ani"). With the expulsion of breath and utterance of the "Ribonno Shel Olam", the Light is emanated outward/downward into the Creation. In other words, it fills the Kethric Awareness which ItSelf encompasses *all*. At this point, your awareness *and* the Adonai Light are spread throughout the Creation so with the final inhalation, your awareness *and* the Light draw back to a focal point within Kether. And with the Amen, your awareness rests in Kether.
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