Psychic Larvae...What Are They?

"So, since you're a student of Franz Bardon, what's your take on psychic larvae?"

I love the question. This whole section of his book always read more like a horror novel to me, what with all the different paranormal creatures that he catalogs, yet I always think that it's well worth exploring what Bardon left us before his time came to be with Divine Providence (Bold emphasis my own, along with personal notation within parenthesis): 

"The difference between an "elemental" and a larva is basically the fact, that an "elemental" is created deliberately by the magician, whereas the larvae form themselves involuntarily, in the corresponding mental sphere, as the result of a strong psychical excitement, no matter which kind of excitement this happens to be. The stronger the excitement is, the more mental material a person is subsiding, all the stronger, denser and more viable the larvae will become, especially in the case of a regular and frequent repetition of the same psychical excitement (It was said about Bardon in his memoir by his son, that he was never seen watching TV, and I have a theory that this was part of the reason why he avoided it so much, along with it most likely getting in the way of his own magical development). This involuntary formation of larvae occurs in any human being, magically trained or not, young or old, intelligent or not, regardless of whether the person knows or ignores it. If the psychical excitement is fading, due to the fact that no attention at all has been paid to the upsetting affair, the larva, too, will disappear, by and by, until finally dissolving itself. Consequently, there will be in the mental sphere a constant bringing forth and dying of larvae, naturally at the costs of the mental matter of some human being, we are causing these events by our own psychical excitements. The reasons therefore can be very different, usually fear, grief, sorrow, fright, hatred and envy and such like producing them (Notice how he is labeling them by using negative character traits on their own as opposed to actions). The shape which the larva shows depends on the cause of the psychical excitement and is always symbolic. Anyone who knows something about symbolism will be able to get a clear idea about this problem, for example, a thought of love will always be symbolised by a heart (this is actually a lot more complex than how he is presenting it here and can involve many more factors such as memories, visual stimulae, and other emotions that far surpass simple symbolism by itself), a thought of hatred by an arrow or a flash, etc (but in passing, his simple examples will suffice). In spite of the fact that the larvae, these undesirable mental inhabitants, cannot be seen by normal human beings (MUGGLES!!!) they do still exist, and the well-trained magician can perceive them on the mental plane (through magical training or in possessing a natural gift of clairvoyance). In sensitive or excitable persons, the mental matter is much more separable and the reproduction of larvae is obviously easier and more intense. Such people wreck themselves, their health, especially their nerves, but they also damage their intellectual faculties and involve other highly suggestible people too (This is why overly sensitive people can be their own worst enemy by ultimately beating themselves up with their own emotions).

Any larvae, being condensed very strongly, will always show a great deal of self-preservation instinct and will try to prolong its duration of life as far as possible. For this reason, it stimulates the mind of the given person, trying at every opportunity, to draw his attention to the cause of excitement and to revive it constantly (notice how he says “it stimulates the mind” as if it is not something we do, yet more something that the larvae does in order to preserve itself, or get stronger once it has been created). Such a well-fed larva can become fatal to a sensitive or emotional individual, and numerous mental disturbances such as persecution-mania and similar are the result of it. How many people are living under the erroneous supposal to be haunted and destroyed by black magicians (even today, still far too many) whereas they are, in fact, victims of their own fancies, or putting it correctly: victims of the larva they have been creating themselves. People like these will usually find out all about this problem, not before they have left their mortal frame. Only very few persons are actually haunted magically. (...)

The magician will now realize, why there has been laid such a stress on the importance of introspection, control and mastering of the thoughts at the beginning of the practical part of this work (Here, Bardon, is also providing a solution for helping rid oneself of this problem, as doing the work is a continual process, yet because larvae is a concept that is being presented in a negative way,  he continues with a negative consequence). Supposing he did not get the thoughts under the control of his willpower, in the course of his development, he would unconsciously create larvae which might become fatal to him sooner or later (Ain’t even a thang. Introspeck yourself before you wreck yourself).”

Excerpt from Initiation Into Hermetics by Franz Bardon. Step VI, Page 132 - 33. (Ruggeberg Edition)

It’s an interesting topic for sure and at the same time, one that I definitely acknowledge, and recognize as kind of malicious the way our vices can creep up on us sometimes if we're not paying close attention to how we utilize our time, while it can also build up gradually in the background without us noticing. That's why my girlfriend is currently offering sessions to help people with this issue, and why I found your question so timely. As someone who is seemingly untouched by this stuff, there is clearly nothing stopping her, or slowing her down, and won't be anytime soon, which is why she helps people all the time when it comes to overcoming their vices, and you're certainly more than welcome to read her introductory course material on Mental Hygiene here : )

One book titled, Psychic Self Defense: For Home and Office by Choa Kok Sui also goes into this concept, as the author was a fan of Bardon, yet he classified them as elementals which Bardon clearly distinguishes one from the other as separate entities. In this book, the author has even illustrated these beings forming from any of the addictions or vices that one might have.

There is also a film that you can watch for fun that one of my friends sent me awhile back that has to do with this subject. It's called, Branded, and was released in 2012. It has to do with the way we feed labels with our thoughts and energy, as if products are really just living beings who eventually take control of people by getting them addicted to whatever that label represents, so that it can keep thriving off of people's energy.

With all of that being said, I also think that we should avoid falling into the ascetic category mindset and way of looking at things too much.

Excessively doing something can be a distraction to our goals in life, yet wanting to be our self and expressing ourselves freely is a totally healthy and noble pursuit. It can just take a lot of willpower sometimes to overcome feelings of guilt and shame that has been instilled into people culturally or early on that seem to move people away from thinking that it's okay to be themselves. 

I look at larvae as “inner demons” just as much as they could be beneficent angels that make up our inner planes and thought world, and I also think that one person's demons could easily be the next person's angels who might not even be able to comprehend how they would be seen as anything less than such. This could also be looked at as someone complaining over their "first world problems". It is all perspective here for the most part. Yet I don't like the name, larvae, as it sounds fairly repugnant. Who we are as people, character traits, and habits, good or bad that we try to break or get over, help shape who we are, yet when I think of negative qualities, I think that this concept is in dire need of a name change, as it is clearly causing confusion. Our negative qualities should not be demonized, as looking at them in this way will only make them worse. It is an ideology that instills fear, and creates more negativity, yet when we change ourselves as a result of working with our negative qualities, it is what makes people so beautiful. Overcoming our own obstacles, or limitations, like the lotus flower that rises from the murk, I think we all have these negative qualities within us and also hanging around us in our energy field, yet it also has to have a new name unless it was Bardon's motive to give it an ugly title as an incentive to further persuade magicians to ennoble themselves.

I think a much healthier approach would be to take away the horror angle of grouping these in a category just before phantoms and instead be like, "yeah, we all have our own ways that we want to express ourselves as humans, but that’s one of the things that makes life so great for a lot of people without entirely realizing it right off, and it's mostly based on perception anyway". The whole "anything can be used for good or ill" applies just as much to larvae as any of the other beings in the section of that chapter. They really get a bad rep, but people's inner demons make them beautiful just as much as the concept of having "purity" would, because it all makes a person up into who they are. Demonizing things is not the way to go, because it ultimately means we would be demonizing ourselves, which people do enough already. I also think it would be much better to take a more lighthearted approach about the whole thing. To look at ourselves and laugh where we may see fault in ourselves, because this will help release those beings within ourselves when we learn to see them as something that is beautiful or allow them to transform completely into new beings of a more positive variety and nature.

Bardon didn't even want to originally accept who eventually became his best student, Dr. MK, because he didn't seem to have enough negative character traits in his personality, or anything really off putting about himself for magical development to even be worth his time. So I think that it is of the highest value for all of us to look at our own negative qualities as if they are our friends, as they definitely make up who we are and make us unique, and smile at them, because it is one of our biggest opportunities for obtaining magical development and spiritual growth. Bardon also stated in his book that "some especially endowed disciples have been able to discover hundreds of failures in the finest shades. Disciples like these possessed a good meditation and a deep penetration into their own souls".

So I also think that it comes down to our own judgments and the way that we see our world. I think these ideas can be very unhealthy and border on dogmatic, and that we should more or less just go with the flow, and yet I also think that the more useless distractions one cuts out of their life, the more they can focus on what they truly wish to experience rather than someone else's dream.

Think about how energetic everything is, and how the effects of giving something a negative connotation that must die in order for it to be completely rid of would be less desirable than just transmuting it into something positive.

In my opinion, and no offense to Bardon in any way, but I think he kind of took this approach when it came to clearing one's mind of all thoughts through meditation as well, and why people often struggle so much with that (aside from it already being difficult for most beginners, and placing it as a step 1 exercise in his training program, I think it is still exactly the place for it to go). However, this exercise is also not really presented in a way that seems that pleasant, just like the sound of the word, larvae. When in fact, meditation is totally awesome and feels amazing and blissful. It should not be seen as a task to meditate and clear one's mind "forcefully" or "willfully" of all thoughts, but instead It is something that should just happen, and as much as something one does for the love and enjoyment of doing it (and how it brings a swift death to all the larvae that one might have, haha).

Taking sea salt baths, grounding, oil pulling, banishings, incense, meditation for clearing our own thoughts, and introspection are all remedies to help us in any situation in life especially with removing the dreaded "larvae" which ultimately amounts to our distractions, addictions, and vices that may lead us away from achieving the goals that we seek.

When we succeed at achieving our goals, we move past what might have been slowing us down, and we can always do magic to dissolve these obstacles within and outside of ourselves, or do a kind of evocation with our own thoughts, feelings, and these beings in order to understand them better and transmute them into positive beings that can change us for the better.

In the book Brain Magick by Philip Farber, he has a section on Evocation which Justin b. the Magician (a Bardon trained magician) has also said is surprisingly similar to his own approach and ideas.

Basically, you imagine a circle around you. Then you do a banishing by taking a breath and filling the circle with your awareness, and then when you exhale, bring your awareness to a single point on your chest, and do that several times or until you feel that your circle is clear. Then imagine a feeling that is undesirable or something really painful that is bothering you and get a good idea of what this looks like to you, along with all the ideas associated with it, and details that it has for you, what color it might be, the way it might move as an energy flow, and then take this form and flip it around so it is facing you outside of your circle. Put this form in an imagined triangle or box and start asking it why it is acting the way it is while feeding it energy. Just keep asking it “why?” over and over while feeding it energy until you finally arrive at what feels like a final answer of some kind, or it transforms into a benevolent being of some kind, or ends up taking on an entirely new form. When it has transformed into a beneficent being of some kind or you feel that your question has been resolved (I have had mine go from demons wreaking havoc on the astral plane to becoming angels) simply reabsorb the being back into yourself and you are done.

 Simple as that, and it can be completely and totally life changing. I hope everyone tries it out : )

So with elementals and larvae I think a good thing to keep in mind is not only moderation like anything else, but that Bardon, god bless him, was also x-tian, and with that came certain ideas about purity and karma that I don't have. Aside from that, I think that it can be very useful, if something is emotionally bothering you, you can always try the above mentioned exercise, introspective work in a journal by using your soul mirrors, or even try out some highly effective mental hygiene exercises!

Good ol' fashioned willpower works well because we are in control of our lives and experiences, while some other’s may let these beings get the best of them.

That is the key, not letting the ideas of some ascetic monks about how you must live your life get the best of you, or in the way of what you would like to do in the world because that was the path that they chose and you get to choose yours!

It is never too late to change ourselves for the better. So my personal solution is to build up all of these beings inside ourselves as allies. Something of a queendom or kingdom that will help us in all pursuits in life, and to treat them nicely, as they all make up apart of our self, and each one could potentially do something different to help change our lives for the better!

Life is beautiful,
Matthew