Egregore

In addition to the individual’s power to create thought into a “thought-form” is the group thought-form called an egregore (pronounced egg’ gree gore). It can be created either intentionally or unintentionally. A group with a common purpose like a family, a club, a political party, a religion or a country can create an egregore, for better or worse depending upon the type of thought that created it. The idea of a group consciousness is not new. The idea of it becoming an autonomous entity with the power to influence may be new to the reader. The Theosophical Viewpoint

Theosophists first brought the idea of a thought-form to the public mind with Annie Besant and CW Leadbeater’s book Thought-Forms in the early twentieth century. Though the concept was discussed in earlier Theosophical literature and is well-known in esoteric thought it is not a mainstream idea. In discussing egregores Helena Blavatsky wrote “. . . every thought so evolved with energy from the brain, creates nolens volens [i.e., willingly or unwillingly] a shape.” Continuing, she states that such a shape is absolutely “unconscious unless it is the creation of an adept, who has a pre-conceived object in giving it [the thought form] consciousness,” or rather the appearance of consciousness derived from the adept’s will and consciousness."

Other Definitions

In his article Understanding the Occult: What is an Egregore Theron Dunn offers four more definitions –

“An energized astral form produced consciously or unconsciously by human agency. In particular, (a) a strongly characterized form, usually an archetypal image, produced by the imaginative and emotional energies of a religious or magical group collectively, or (b) an astral shape of any kind, deliberately formulated by a magician to carry a specific force."

"…from a Greek word meaning “watcher.” A thought-form created by will and visualization. A group egregore is the distinctive energy of a specific group of magicians who are working together, creating and building the same thought-form or energy-form."

"Any symbolic pattern that has served as a focus for human emotion and energy will build up an egregore of its own over time, and the more energy that is put into such a pattern, the more potent the egregore that will form around it. The gods and goddesses of every religion, past and present, are at the centers of vast egregore charged with specific kinds of power. This power is defined by, and contacted through, the traditional symbolism of the deity in question."

"An egregore is an angel, sometimes called watcher; in Hebrew the word is ir, and the concept appears in The Book of Enoch.... Thus, Irim, the city of the Nephilim is again linked with the Book of Enoch, since the Nephilim, according to that Book, were the sons of the Irim (the egregores.)....Although the Irim, the egregores, are angels on both sides of the camp - fallen angels as well as faithful ones."

Other words to describe an egregore are archetype, group consciousness and perhaps zeitgeist. Rupert Sheldrake’s morphogenic fields are egregores.

Energy Feeds the Egregore

According to author, Gaeten Delaforgem, this psychic, astral and autonomous entity (egregore) will continue as long as thought energy feeds it but it does not have to be the same people feeding energy for the entity to continue and eventually become independent. Egregores can be kept alive when new generations add their thought energy to the entity. Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Spirit of Christmas are all egregors. The Devil, the Grim Reaper, the “superior Arian Race” of the Nazi regime are also egregore.

The egregore connects the people who created it to the psychic energy which created it. Like a conduit to the battery tapped, recharged and resynchronized with the vibration of that energy. And it influences those who did not create it. One wonders how Adolph Hitler could have drawn so many people to adopt his hateful philosophy and condemn a race of innocents to annihilation. One could also wonder how a puny little bunch of colonists could have defeated the most omnipotent superpower of the age. Hitler had the hatred and anger in the minds of the German people after their defeat in World War I, he created an egregore to focus that energy. As for America, the call for Liberty, Equality and Justice for all can be a potent consciousness to nurture into a new country. Of course an egregore in the hands of an advertising executive could also be a fearful thing. To understand how powerful and ridiculous an egregor can be –how many of us really needed a pet rock back in the 1970’s. A fad is a temporary and very potent egregore.

In 1896 a Frenchman by the name of Gustave Le Bon wrote a book called The Crowd, A Study of the Popular Mind. In the book Le Bon shows how an individual on his own may act with the highest moral character and compassionate heart but in a crowd that same individual can be swept away and behave as a total “blockhead” losing the sense of his own personal integrity to the energy of the crowd. The “lynch mob mentality” is an excellent example here. Wall Street is another example of the crowd mentality. A few manipulators sell strategically and the whole market plummets. A few have created an egregore and that psychic energy has spread to the crowd who mindlessly follow.

Of course, the crowd egregore quickly breaks down. It arises quickly, passion carries the crowd but because the crowd is not an organized, stable group with intention, the demon egregore is quickly dissipated.

Initiation

As a psychic entity, the egregore exists between the material and spiritual worlds and is connected to both. It is a creation of the psychic objectives of the members of a group, and exists as a connection to the divine. Anyone involved in a group, whatever kind of group it is, will be affected by the egregore of the group. “For those that reach for a spiritual connection, the egregore assists and facilitates that connection. This process is unconscious, but is intensified through the initiate process, which is designed to open the mind to the spiritual through the egregore.” The same is true of any organization be it a church, a club or the Ku Klux Klan. If you doubt the power of an egregore consider the effect of an egregore in a less than wholesome group. Radical Islam. We are shock, horrified to find what seems to be an ordinary American, pursuing the American dream who visits Middle East and comes back a terrorist. It can happen so quickly. Remember Gustav La Bon, reason is not part of the crowd mentality. Caught up in the passionate hatred of this egregore would be hard to resist. But this is an organized group with a very strong intention so the passion remains and the egregore continues to feed it and effect the initiate.

The power and influence of the egregore to help and sustain the members of a group increases over time and though the growing numbers of members, by drawing support from the members that constitute the group and through their repeated actions (ceremonies or rituals) it maintains its power. The egregore then raises its members from the material and connects them to the divine.

Dion Fortune in WWII

Perhaps the most powerful and destructive egregore in recent history is the Nazi regime in World War II.

Dion Fortune

During WWII in Britain Dion Fortune, a very prominent British occultist and author, gathered her follows together for a psychic war against Germany. Her group, the Fraternity of the Inner Light, were not able to meet in person because of wartime travel restrictions but she got the word out to her group in writing. “The war has to be fought and won on the physical plane,” she wrote, “before physical manifestation can be given to the archetypal ideals. What was sown will grow and bear seed.”

Fortune invoked the ancient spirits pledged to protect Britain, including King Arthur, Merlin, St. Michael and St. George. From a description of the process Dion Fortune followed to create the egregore – “The working began with the formulating of the symbol of the Rose-Cross. As this symbol was built on the astral planes each week, it developed through a series of changes in a clear sequence – a sign that the inner powers had been contacted and were responding. First, the Rose-Cross was surrounded by a golden light, then a diamond light, indicating a very high grade of power. Soon it became clear that the Rose-Cross was situated in a cavern deep beneath Glastonbury Tor. The figures of seven of the Masters then appeared around it. In later meditations, three key figures appeared: King Arthur, Merlin and the Master Jesus, later joined by the figure of the Virgin Mary, also seen as Binah and the heavenly Isis, bearing the Grail.”

Britain was never invaded despite the immense power of the Nazi war machine.

Hitler and WWII

By the time Hitler came to power the ground work for the egregore of the Nazi party was in place. Hitler added the missing ingredient – emotion, strong emotion – passion. Guido List, an author originally of Viennese birth, had created a “fantasy” as Goodrick-Clarke calls it. This fantasy drew on myths, legends and theosophy to build a background, a believable myth, for Hitler’s movement.

Germany in the 1880’s was in some ways like America, a conglomeration of nationalities. All of these different peoples insisted on maintaining their own national identity. List wanted to create a purely German identity. He began openly prosecuting Jews as morally inferior, different from the Germans. He took from Helena Blavatsky the idea of the fifth sub-race of the Fifth Root Race, the Aryans but Hitler dubbed the Aryans as the Master Race. List also took from Freemasonry and Rosicrucianism and corrupted it to suit the needs of his mythology. And the borrowed the god, Woten, the Teutonic god of war. A god is an egregore in itself so adding it to the mix brought disruption and violence to the new mythology. It is interesting to note that some researchers believe Hitler took his mustache and characteristic lock of hair on the forehead from pictures he had seen of Woten. (For a detailed account of List’s fantasy and how it came to affect the National Socialist’s Party see Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke’s The Occult Roots of Nazism.)

Various Renditions of Woten

Hitler added the lust, the warlike passion, to List’s fantasy mythology of the German people to whip their spirits almost to a frenzy. After a defeat of WWI the German morale was crushed but with List’s new mythology of German superiority and a long history to prove it German pride sored. All they needed was an enemy to focus upon and anyone who was not of superior German blood was targeted. Hitler gave them focus and the intent of taking back their rightful place as leaders of the entire world.

Hilter's Hypnotic Effect on the Crowd

The mesmerizing speeches of Hitler are well-known. Many commentators suggest that Hitler was possessed at the time he gave them. The egregore that is the god Woten, the god of violence, war and destruction, part of his mythology would be the most appropriate for him to channel. Hitler was what we would call insane but was he simply an open conduit for the violent forces that exist in the unseen, a focal point for them to enter this world with direction and intent. Insanity may be simply the decision to allow the influence of an unusual or unconventional egregore.

The Birth, Care and Feeding of an Egregore

A group intentionally setting out to create an egregore must have certain ingredients.

Emotion - An egregore is born when a group of people concentrate with emotion on a single goal or objective. The emotional aspect is crucial, simply thinking about a goal does not have the same effect. The emotion, the intent, must be strong, focused and sustained.

Secrecy – secret societies, mystery schools, political associations all have a core of teachings that is not shared with outsiders for what is more solidifying to a relationship than sharing a secret? Whether it is a privilege to know the secret or the threat that disclosure will result in mortal harm, nothing tightens a relationship like a kept secret.

Segregation – And sharing a secret makes the group separate, apart from the masses. Special costumes, ceremonies, chants all add to the separateness – the specialness. The thoughts of them and us focuses attention.

Ritual – Special rituals to invoke the entity of the egregore but also stir the imagination of the participants. The power of the ritual, especially a secret ritual, should not be underestimated. Rituals have been used forever to invoke the unseen powers to operate on ones’ behalf.

Add all of these ingredients together create the egregore and the group feeds the creature emotional energy and the creature feeds the group the energy available to it from the astral plane. It is a feedback loop. Eventually, the egregore is strong enough to be independent.

Egregore in Everyday Experience

The atmosphere created by an egregore can be so common we may be inclined to ignore it. Everyone has walked into a room full of people and immediately been hit with a sense of something – dread, fear, joy. It can also be very subtle, so subtle you are not aware of its influence until we are away from the group supporting the egregore. The test of a knowledgeable person of strong character is to be aware of the presence of the egregore, to separate from it and to decide if he or she we allow its influence.

Any and every group that calls itself a group, a congregation, a society, or a party, has an egregore, a group consciousness. Awareness that any affiliation one makes will mean the subjugation to the egregore of that group must be considered before joining any organization. This awareness makes it easier to understand that the views of the group do not necessarily have to be your views. With that, leaving or remaining the influence is a conscious decision.

Opposing the Egregore

Science says that energy cannot be created or destroyed – it can only change form. An egregore is made up of thought energy. If scientists are correct this brings to mind the question can an egregore be destroyed or must the energy of it be transformed? In Dion Fortune’s exercise she called on egregores to defend England from invasion – not to destroy Nazism. Unity Church often calls for a day of prayer for world peace, not for the end of those who disrupt the peace.

Dion Fortune discussing the phenomenon of the group mind in a frenzy typical of a Hitler movement says – “But however potent the personality, however vast the resources, however popular the catch-phrases, if the movement is contrary to cosmic law it is only a matter of time till the whole group rushes madly down a steep slope into the sea. For in such a case it is the very momentum that is worked up which is the cause of its destruction. Give a false movement enough rope and it will always hang itself, falling by its own weight when that has grown sufficiently top-heavy to overbalance it.”

As Albert Amao states in Healing Without Medicine, “After Germany was defeated the Nazi egregore gradually faded away because there were no more masses feeding it. Thus, in time, when the emotions and feelings that were feeding an egregore disappear, the egregore slowly dissolves.”

All Egregores Are Negative?

According to the respected and anonymous author of Meditations on the Tarot all egregores are negative. This author and many others disagree. Egregores can attach themselves to buildings or places if that was the intent of the original creators of the egregore. Ancient cathedrals are often known for their healing powers or supernatural connections to the unseen worlds and unseen entities. Caves where ancients used to worship become the object of pilgrimages. Mountains are often said to have very mystical feel or a soothing sense to them. Theses egregore can be fed with emotion and intent for hundreds of years with each new generation.

Unity Church has an egregore that not many would find negative. Science of Mind, the Law of Attraction and Christian Science are all egregores, even if one does not agree with their methods rarely would they be seen as negative. The egregore that helped create this country would not be found to be negative by most Americans. The energy is neutral, what is formed with it with emotion and intent determines if it is destructive or constructive.

Creating Your Own Reality

This calls to mind the sovereignty of the individual to create their own reality with their own thought power without preventing another from freely creating their reality. Hitler had as much right to create his own reality as any other person. And this brings us to one of the doctrines of Theosophy – the reality of free will and self-responsibility. One becomes one of “the crowd” if one is unaware of the existence and powerful influence of an egregore. Awareness and the study of what is unseen but influencing us is one of the goals of Theosophy.