The One Year Manual: Twelve Steps to Spiritual Enlightenment

by Israel Regardie

This twelve-month manual brings the serious student of consciousness to an ongoing awareness of unity. Dr. Regardie revised this edition (originally published as Twelve Steps to Spiritual Enlightenment) to progress from the physical disciplinesof body-awareness, relaxation, and rhythmic breathing, through concentration, developing will, mantra-practice, to the ultimate awareness that All is God.

Genres: Magick, Occult, Spirituality, Magic, Nonfiction, Paganism, Religion

96 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Israel Regardie (born Francis Israel Regudy) was considered by many to be the last living Adept of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. At an early age, Regardie worked as Aleister Crowley's personal secretary. In addition to his extensive writings, Regardie practiced as a chiropractor and as a neo-Reichian therapist. He taught psychiatry at the Los Angeles College of Chiropractic and contributed articles to many psychology magazines.

Reviews

[Warden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Humbling

I've been a seeker of the spiritual path for all my life. It's strange that just recently (December 2016) I started having esoteric knowledge cross my path. Before I had just followed my inner self, and that was difficult to do without much guidance. The Christianity that I had grown up with was too much fire and brimstone for any growth and development. But my grandfather was a very spiritual and wise man, different than any other Christian I have ever met. He operated in love, a true representation of the Christ consciousness. And I remember that.

In my own journey, I've read the Christian Bible, the Torah, the Koran, and all the Abrahamic writings. I've read the Vedas, the bhagavad gita, the Tao te Ching, the Shambhala teachings, and the kybalion. I've devoted myself to and devoured all the texts and practices that I've come across.

This was a very simple and we'll explained manual for those that feel overwhelmed by it all. I did everything I did because I was pushed to in life and death scenarios, and I don't think anyone should have to be pushed that far to get the enlightenment they seek. This is a good start.

If you're reading this, don't give up on yourself. Do the best you can, then improve. You can do it. If I can do it, anyone can.

Much love and honor. I believe in you. :)

[Durgadas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ostensibly, this manual is the nuts and bolts of what Regardie thought we need to achieve communion with our Higher Self. It's a practical guide to the "path of the arrow." Most of the exercises, save the two rituals, can be applied by a person from any faith. And, in my opinion, the techniques are solid and strong. I particularly recommend the chapter on will development - because of how essential will development is and how little others write of it - although I would replace his inclination to punish with one to reward, which is also supported by behavioral psychology. Also, I think his chapter on how to apply the fact that "emotion induces concentration" to spiritual practice lays that concept out with a pragmatism and effectuality that I'm not sure I've seen elsewhere.

Otherwise, I think performing the Middle Pillar as laid out here (i.e. with five minutes given to each chakra) could be too intense and even dangerous for some people - especially with no type of grounding/banishing activity included, hence the docking of a star. But for people who already have some type of spiritual framework that they work from, this could be an excellent manual for deepening their practice.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Israel Regardie has become an increasingly important fixture of my library. This book can be read in an hour or two, but the outline given by Regardie is well worth pursuing for the full year as intended. For a Student, Probationer, or Neophyte of the A.'.A.'. or another magical order, this manual is a nice addendum to the official body of work. Some of the instructions here are essentially practices found in Crowley's Liber E and Liber O distilled through Regardie's very pragmatic lens. This will also be of interest to the aspiring occultist looking for something practical to do and to move forward without being overwhelmed by the lifetime's worth of reading that is presented to them when exploring these topics. Highly recommended for those starting on the Path as well as for those looking to approach these practices with a "Beginner's Mind," to borrow a term from the late Zen teacher Shunryu Suzuki, and revitalize their practical work.

[George Bremner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m not going to lie; I had serious judgement before reading this book. The author, Dr. Israel Regardie, “was an occultist, a writer, and Aleister Crowley's personal secretary, widely known for his books and commentaries on the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.” Clearly, I am not a Golden Dawn guy. At first, I thought I accidentally bought an old-fashioned new agey spiritual guide book. And maybe it is, but I got to say, I liked this book. It shows a progression to enlightenment, which no matter the religion, I always find fascinating. Here Israel provides a series of meditations, visualizations, mantras and prayers to get one from novice to enlightenment or put another way, to concentrate the mind enough to become one with God. In fact, the first half of the book contains by the numbers mindfulness meditation.

Thousands (maybe millions) of meditation/prayer books exist; pitifully few actually outline a path to an enlightenment experience. It’s a short book that I would recommend to an intermediate meditation student or anyone interested in various perspectives on religious experience.

[Caio Andrade · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok, chega de ler bruxos alquimistas por enquanto.

[Radek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Krótkie rozdziały - ćwiczenia. Skondensowana wiedza. Przydatny pomocnik na drodze rozwoju duchowego-magicznego.

[Jim Street · Rating 5 out of 5]

I originally read this in my teens. I didn't quite stick with it for an entire year, but it did blow my mind. There were pieces that did not take, but with the past 30 years of spiritual and non-spiritual experiences, I can now say that this small book is phenomenal. I highly recommend this book to anyone curious about what Hermeticism/direct experiences of the divine has to offer to a spiritual querent within Western-style Christos-mythos/ethos.

[Mustafa Al-Laylah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can't recommend this deceptively small book enough to any spiritual seeker regardless of age or experience. I've burned through six copies over the years, continuously giving them away to folks who I felt needed it.

[Gaze Santos · Rating 4 out of 5]

This slim book is a crash course of sorts into developing your self-awareness and intuition. Despite its small page count, it is chock full of techniques and practical advice. Israel Regardie explains that each chapter is supposed to represent some sort of exercise to be practised throughout a single month. However, he also admits that certain students might need an extra month or two to really get the point of each exercise. The book begins fairly easily by getting us to be more aware of our bodies and mind as they currently are and gives us no-nonsense instructions to follow. He then steps it up by introducing us to different types of meditation techniques. The chapter on developing one's will is one of the highlights of this book. He caps it all off by giving instructions on two basic purification rituals from the Golden Dawn/O.T.O Ceremonial Magick system. These final chapters tend to throw a few people off as the first two-thirds of the book seems like a basic introduction to meditation with a slightly Christian bent... Make no mistake, Israel Regardie was an Adept of the Golden Dawn. And when he speaks about enlightenment he refers to obtaining a conversation with one's own Holy Guardian Angel. (A close reading of the opening chapters reveals that he was upfront of this from the start.) This is supposed to merely be an introduction to the path of Theurgy and Ceremonial Magick, boiled to its bare essentials. But these essentials, if fully developed and assimilated, will become a strong and indispensable foundation to your Great Work. Keep at it and don't give up! Although I read through it in just a couple of days, I will be referencing this book throughout the coming year and putting the exercises within into practice myself!

[Sign of the Wolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

fajny manual na początek ezoprzygody, ale dla mnie problemem jest trochę zbyt częste wbijanie się w chrześcijańskie tony (dla samego autora zresztą też, co zaznaczył we wstępie do drugiego wydania i przyznał, że uległ sugestiom znajomych, że to się lepiej sprzeda). Niby na wielu etapach podkreśla, że znaczenie tych słów nie jest najistotniejsze i po prostu "dobrze się inwokuje", ale dla mnie jest to przeszkoda na niektórych stopniach

czytałem polskie wydanie, Okultura 2008

[Sophía · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent system of development that Israel Regardie consolidated into less than 100 pages. One year goes by quick, and any new student would benefit tremendously from mastering these exercises.

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Describes spiritual exercises. I want to buy this so I can take the time to do them

[Onur · Rating 5 out of 5]

He teaches how to join our unconscious sides of us with the conscious ones. It could not be shorter and neater than this.

[william m manzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic

A great work that can set the student on the proper path and practice ,a must for those seeking a grounding in the path.93s

[Rory Tregaskis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great little book to read just before new year's eve. Starts off very simple and practical, and I think if you do the exercises as you read, by the time you get to the later chapters they will make sense.

[Miraedus · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disappointing Christian rhetoric and watered down qabalistic practices repackaged to be spiritually edgy. Short book, but a chore to read.

[Daniel yarlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clearly written, perfectly explained.. highly recommend for spiritual seekers that are looking for a simple and effective daily practice program.

[Natasha Snyder · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a short but very sweet manual on spiritual growth. I am fully confident that if you have the self discipline to work your way through his very well thought out and deceptively simple program, you would be well on your way to spiritual nirvana and contact with your guides. No doubt in my mind. It's a very short book, and even if you made it through the first few chapters (which translate into months of work) you would vastly improve your psychic and meditation skills.

It would take a LOT of self discipline to make it through a year, but spiritual growth ain't easy.

I also appreciate that this program would work for people of any religion. He uses Qabalistic terms and language, but he is clear that you don't have to be Jewish or Christian to benefit from these exercises, and the Hebrew was simply known to be a very good method of chanting/intoning. I guess non-Christians who have an intense dislike of anything even remotely Christian or Jewish might have problems with that, but honestly, there is so much to be gained from this work, it only is to the practitioner's benefit to try to get over their prejudices. I suspect that if they really work through the program, by the time they get to the Qabalistic exercises, they'll be believers in Regardie's methods.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a very well thought out and effective way to get closer to God, no matter what your religious beliefs are.

[Zulu Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not really qualified to give this a proper review as I blazed through it in a day or two, so obviously I haven't put into practice the methods described. That being said, I found it highly readable due to its no-nonsense pragmatism and lack of spiritual gobbledy-gook. It doesn't ask you to believe anything until near the end, but it only starts bringing these ideas up because the author assumes they will have been observed and self-evident to the reader during the earlier practices.

An intriguing read, but obviously more suited to hard-nosed spirituality seekers than the likes of the merely curious such as myself.

[Teleri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personally, I didn't find this very useful when I ran into it. But i was younger then, and perhaps it would be a good refresher for my many years of lapsed practice...

[Äsruþr Cyneaþsson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good guide, yet lacking much of the depth that typically accompanies Regardie's works.

[Kent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting up to a certain point. Once it started involving magic rituals without any sort of background or explanation I figured I was either out of my league or out of grains of salt.