Attention & Focus · “You Become What You Hold”
Dharana
Train one-pointed attention by fixing the mind on a single simple imagined object and recording every break, treating concentration as a measurable skill.
Crowley’s dharana: Sit still. Hold one simple imagined shape (a black oval, blue disk, silver crescent, yellow square, or red triangle). Keep the mind on it; every time a thought intrudes, mark it. Log the date, length, and number of breaks. Watch the breaks fall over weeks. Concentration as a measured experiment.
What it is
This is Aleister Crowley’s beginner concentration drill from Liber E vel Exercitiorum, the instructional paper he set as basic training for aspirants of his order A∴A∴.
You pick one simple object, hold it steadily in the mind’s eye, and count every time the mind wanders. Crowley borrowed dharana (one-pointedness) wholesale from Indian Raja Yoga but bolted on his distinctive demand: treat it as an experiment, log the results, and watch the number of breaks fall over weeks.
Read plainly, it is a structured focused-attention practice with a built-in metric — the lineage’s metaphysics (the symbols as “tattvas,” concentration as a step toward magical attainment) sits on top of an ordinary attention-training mechanism.
The Method
Faithful to Liber E:
- Settle the body first. Crowley assumes you are already steady in a posture and breath; sit still so the body stops competing for attention.
- Choose one simple object, imagined. “Constrain the mind to concentrate itself upon a single simple object imagined.” He suggests the five tattva shapes: “a black oval; a blue disk; a silver crescent; a yellow square; a red triangle.” Any one simple form will do.
- Hold it absolutely. Keep the mind fixed on that one image; let no other thought intrude on the consciousness.
- Mark every break. Each time another thought slips in, register it. “Note carefully the durations of the experiments, the number and nature of the intruding thoughts.”
- Record it like a scientist. Write down the date, length, conditions, and the count of breaks. Over many sessions the breaks should grow fewer and the steady stretches longer. (Sourcing note: the object list and “note carefully the durations / number of intruding thoughts” are Crowley’s own wording in Liber E; the framing as a counted experiment is his signature.)
Source & Lineage
Aleister Crowley (1875-1947) trained in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, then fused its ceremonial system with Eastern yoga learned partly through his friend Allan Bennett.
Liber E vel Exercitiorum (published in The Equinox, 1909) is the foundational practice-paper of his A∴A∴, prescribing record-keeping, Asana, Pranayama and Dharana as the aspirant’s first work; he elaborated the yoga side in Eight Lectures on Yoga (1939).
The dharana technique itself is Patanjali’s; Crowley’s contribution is the experimental, record-driven packaging.
Common refinements
Fighting the wandering. The breaks are the data, not failures — note and return calmly.
- Not recording. Without the count there is no feedback loop; the Atlas is the method’s edge over plain “try to focus.”
- Over-long first sessions. Start with a few minutes; long forced sessions breed strain and discouragement.
- Choosing a complex object. Crowley says simple — a single shape, not a busy scene.