Affirmation · “The Subconscious Says Yes”
Decretism
Formulate one clearly-defined desire and impress it on the soul/subconscious by calmly, silently decreeing that it must be so — willing the result as already commanded, without strain, doubt, or chatter.
Decretism in 5 lines: (1) Define ONE desire, exactly and concretely.
(2) Settle into calm will (Volantia) — strong intention, zero strain.
(3) Silently decree it as settled — command, don’t beg; feel it done.
(4) Sink into the receptive state (Posism) and release it.
(5) Hold that one decree calmly across the days; don’t scatter or anxiously re-will. Keep decrees to your own state, not other people.
What it is
Decretism is the second of Paschal Beverly Randolph’s three “fundamental laws” of practical magic — Volantia (calm, non-straining will), Decretism (the decree), and Posism (the receptive state).
Where Volantia is the faculty of willing calmly, Decretism is the act: taking one clearly-defined desire and decreeing that it must be so — not begging, not hoping vaguely, but issuing an inner command with quiet, total conviction.
Randolph insisted the thing decreed be “clearly defined in the mind” first, then held and affirmed as already settled. It is, in effect, a 19th-century esoteric ancestor of the modern affirmation/decree: a sharply-specified intention impressed on the subconscious by calm authority rather than effort.
The Method
Drawn from Randolph’s Eulian teaching (Eulis!, and codified in the Volantia/Decretism/Posism material):
- Define the one thing — exactly. Randolph is emphatic: “the end sought, the power coveted, or the thing desired must be clearly defined in each mind.” Vagueness is fatal. Reduce your desire to one specific, concrete result you could recognise if it arrived. One decree at a time.
- Enter Volantia first — calm the will. Sit relaxed, breathe quietly, and settle into the calm-will state: strong intention without tension, strain, or muscular effort. Decretism is built on Volantia; a frantic or anxious mind cannot decree cleanly.
- Decree it — silently and absolutely. Hold the defined desire and inwardly command that it be so. Randolph’s framing is that of a decree, an order issued — not a request. In the formal practice “no word may be spoken; the thing desired [is] strongly thought,” with the three principles enforced together. The tone is settled certainty: this is decreed; it stands. 4. Feel it as accomplished. The decree carries conviction and feeling, not doubt. You affirm the result as a done thing, not a wish straining toward the future.
- Sink into Posism — then release. Having decreed, drop into the receptive state (Posism): stop pushing, become quiet and open, and let it go to be “received.” Randolph pairs decree with surrender — you command, then you receive; you do not keep anxiously re-willing.
- Hold the one desire across time. Randolph instructs that the desire be “formulated and kept in mind during the whole period” of the working — a single sustained intention, returned to calmly, not a scatter of competing wishes. (Sourcing note: the “clearly defined,” “no word spoken / strongly thought,” and Volantia–Decretism–Posism enforcement phrasings are Randolph’s documented teaching. This entry presents the secular, transmissible decree-and-release core; Randolph embedded it in his sexual-magic (“nuptive moment”) working, treated separately.)
Source & Lineage
Paschal Beverly Randolph (1825–1875) — African-American physician, Spiritualist, and Rosicrucian, one of the most influential occultists of the 19th century — set out Volantia, Decretism, and Posism as the operative triad of his Eulian system (Eulis!
The History of Love, 1874; later expanded in the posthumous Magia Sexualis). The triad maps cleanly onto calm will → decree → receptivity. Decretism prefigures the New Thought / Religious Science “decree” and affirmation (Charles Fillmore, Emmet Fox, Ernest Holmes all teach “decreeing”), and the broader law-of-attraction emphasis on a single, clearly-defined, felt-as-accomplished intention. → (Paschal Beverly Randolph node); companion.
The Traditions' versions
New Thought “decree” — Fillmore/Fox/Holmes: speaking the word with authority, as settled law. The direct descendant of Decretism.
- Coué’s autosuggestion — calm, unforced impression of a suggestion; same “don’t strain” principle as Volantia underlying the decree.
- Neville’s “feeling it real” — the defined wish assumed as already accomplished.
- Implementation intentions / goal-setting (psychology) — a single, concrete, specified outcome, mentally rehearsed; the supported analogue of “clearly defined in the mind.”
- Posism ↔ surrender practices — decree then release, structurally identical to “let go and let God.”
Common refinements
Vague or plural desires. The cardinal error Randolph warns against — the thing must be clearly defined, and one at a time. A blurry decree is no decree.
- Straining / forcing belief. Decretism rides on Volantia: command calmly, don’t grit your teeth. Effort triggers reversed effort.
- Begging instead of decreeing. The tone is settled authority (“it is so”), not anxious petition (“please let…”).
- Skipping the release (Posism). Decreeing then constantly re-checking and re-willing keeps you in lack. Decree, then drop it and become receptive.
- Decreeing over other people. Randolph’s own examples stray into influencing others; keep your decrees to your own state, choices, and conduct — coercive intentions are unsupported and ethically wrong.
- Treating the decree as a substitute for action. It clarifies and motivates; it does not exempt you from doing the work the goal requires.