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.” 888888

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.[8888a1]

…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. [8888]

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 [8888c]

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.[8888d]”

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.” 88888 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.