A great deal of the work done by inner alchemists, has to do with energetic containment, and while this might sound on the surface like hard work or a type of austere life, in reality it is all about regaining power through the most natural means possible, the correct focus of attention. And it is the case that as this kind of correct focus becomes more conscious, more sustained, relentless, it can and does bring power to the inner alchemist, and with power, with the complete inner knowing that you are free) and that you have the possibility to do more, to act, there comes over the practitioner this feeling of utter joy and relaxation. In that sense then, energetic containment is a joyous act that increases the possibilities of the inner alchemist in every way, and in doing so, energetic containment is a source of relaxation, not work, not fatigue, but power.

For the most part, some might imagine, rightfully so perhaps due to the words that must be used, that energetic containment just means the ability to work on the self) for the sake of the self alone, and that it involves the action of distancing yourself from everything and everyone else, like trying to stay as far away from the rest of the world as possible.

This is certainly one way (or one aspect let’s say) of energetic containment, and the parallels of this can be seen in the holy hermit, that detaches from humanity to live in a lonely forest or a cave somewhere. But as I have pointed out in my book, overcoming the archon through alchemy, there is a point when the world does catch up to you, and no matter how far you may run, there may be a time when your containment skills are such that the world at large will and does, eventually invade your personal island.

For that reason, energetic containment must) also include within the techniques involved, the ability to stop the world at large from actively taking the inner alchemist’s energy. In other words, the world is, at least from the inner alchemist’s point of view, a predatory world, and as such a great deal of focus of attention needs to be applied to the ability to fight back against that predation. You can’t just run; at some point you will most likely have to fight back, or at the very least defend against the predation that is the foundation of the gravity of this world.

Generally speaking, most people can understand the concept of predator and prey. They can look at the physical world with their physical senses, and realize that everywhere you look there are things that eat and are enriched in one way or another by the use or the eating of other things, this is a consume, that is consumer, world. There is a beautiful symbiosis there, when one looks at the big picture, a wholeness that is directly perceivable where all of nature gives and takes in equal measure. But this big picture should not obscure the fact that at a smaller individual level, you must take, and the world does take, and all this taking can at times be very unpleasant from that individual point of view, and indeed, a great deal of our evolution has to do with us finding more balanced ways to take and to give back. One way that inner alchemists try to find that balance is to develop ways to deal with the taking by the world, the predation of the world.

To begin in this endeavor an inner alchemist begins to learn to perceive energy more directly, which as I have said, may be called seeing or using the inner senses. So, an inner alchemist, due to the fact that they can use their inner senses, which are far more powerful than just the outer physical ones, can see) that there is much more to life than just the physical, and having the possibility to see beyond the physical, they realize that there are more things out there, more predators, invisible predators from the physical senses point of view, that an individual needs to defend against, in the most proactive manner possible if they know what is good for them.

I have described these non-organic predatory beings at length in my book, the vampire’s way to psychic self-defense, and you can find a link to that book here on this site if you are interested in knowing more about this important topic.

Anyway, In the vampire’s way book I mentioned that these nonorganic predatory beings can come in many shapes and sizes, and that they, at least when they are large enough, can attain a complexity that is hard for the human mind to grasp. What this means is that these larger and far more complex nonorganic predatory lifeforms, can sometimes have an intellectual complexity, and a power level, that is difficult for the average human being to fully understand.

There are many that have known about these nonorganic predators, and they have discussed them at length within their certain occult traditions. What is seldom mentioned though, I think anyway, is that these predatory nonorganic lifeforms have chameleon like properties and the vastness of their intellects are such, that they have the possibility of tricking the human mind quite easily. What this means is that these nonorganic predators can be sort of like shape shifters, in that they can trick a person into believing that they are one thing, while in reality they are something else. And the vastness of their mental resources is such, that they can think much farther ahead than a person, and begin to take odd and seemingly quite positive action that may in the long run, trick that person into doing something that was at the time, quite unsuspected and seemingly leading to good places, but is in fact a way to trick and take.

Now, I am not trying to say here that certain things do not exist, that for example a Bigfoot, or a true otherworld alien is not real. I am also not saying that angels and that the goodness of such light beings is not real, what I am saying though is that on some occasions, some of these phenomena that is believed to be a certain thing, can be something else entirely, a predator in disguise, a wolf in sheep’s clothing as it were.

For that reason, inner alchemists believe that it is most important that an individual learns to perceive energy directly, use the inner senses as I have mentioned, because if they cannot do this, they can often times be easily fooled into thinking that a certain thing is benign in nature, or that certain things such as non-organic beings, could not possibly, rationally, exist. For the inner alchemist, non organic life is quite real, and some of those beings can at times be a predator in hiding, that will do anything in the most ruthless fashion possible, to take all that it desires from the inner alchemist or from anyone else. This basically means that the beautiful flower over there might not just be poisonous, it might actually be a predator in disguise that will ensnare the unwary and break any energetic containment that they might have had, draining them of every ounce of living vitality.

In relation to this article, what this means is that there are times, and this is not always of course, just certain times, when a person can be fooled into thinking that they are dealing with a benign being, perhaps a very powerful light being like an angel, while in reality what they are actually confronting is a predatory being, who is ruthlessly trying to take instead of help.

As an example, we could contemplate a person that finds that they are in a most terrible situation of one kind or another, and in the midst of this most difficult personal trial, such a person asks for help and receives it in the form of the visit from a light being, an angel like being, that seems to be trying to help them overcome their difficulties. To someone who cannot see, such an encounter may seem like a wonderful life saving miracle perhaps.

But an inner alchemist is a born paranoid in most ways, so they know, through the exercise of that paranoia and deep curiosity, that there is far more to the world than the rational view. For that reason, they eventually are led to the inevitability of learning to see, and when they can perceive with their inner senses and see beyond just what the physical senses are telling them, they directly know that non-organic predatory beings can, as I have said, trick the human mind. The inner alchemist that can see, can perceive directly that this being might be a chameleon-like predator, and it could try to trick a person into believing that they are meeting an angel, while in reality this supposed angel is actually a kind of devil that is only interested in causing them more strife and pain, so that this predator might gorge itself on that person’s spent emotional vitality.

Such a trickster would appear to be goodness incarnate, but soon after this initial encounter, such a being would begin to tax the person in need in whatever way, to induce as much emotion as possible. Now, this emotion can be highly negative) or at times even highly loving to the point of ecstatically positive, this is very important, and this is something that a person needs to be careful about, something that is seldom discussed enough I feel. This trickster, hiding itself as an angel, might even use incredibly intense ecstatically loving emotions to try and elicit from a person as much emotion as possible, so that after such an intensity a person might feel completely drained, but in the end, they have not been helped in any real way at all. The purpose of all of this is to elicit emotion because all such emotion is food to this predator, and for that reason this predator will use any trick available to it, in order to induce as much hyper intense emotion of any kind in the person. They will then ruthlessly feed on that emotion, and drain that person as much as they can, before they depart and leave that person utterly exhausted, but without providing any real help at all.

If a person cannot see like an inner alchemist can see, then a good way to understand when one is dealing with such a trickster predator, is to note that at the end of such an interaction, there is little in the form of actual help given. What I mean by this is that even though a great deal of emotional trial and tribulation might have occurred, such an interaction does not in the end help the individual person in any meaningful way, it just leaves them exhausted.

A good way to discover whether you are dealing with a trickster or an actual light being therefore, is to note if this interaction seems to be just a big emotional upheaval, as opposed to anything positive or anything more concrete. If such an interaction is for the most part just emotional intensity and nothing else, then you could quite possibly be confronting a trickster non-organic predatory lifeform. If on the other hand this experience truly does resolve issues and is quite helpful, then you are most likely dealing with the real thing.

Such a helpful distinction can even be used if you are confronted by such things as a Bigfoot, an alien, or many of the other cryptids that a random person or a paranormal investigator might run into. You want to see a ghost or a Bigfoot, so the trickster tricks you and you see what it wants you to see, what you truly wish to see, along with a heap of intense emotion that it takes as its payment, but in the end, unless you really love the show, you have lost a great deal of vitality and have found only illusions, no real evidence or even truly solid physical clues.

My personal belief as an inner alchemist, is that the best way to truly understand the nature of such cryptic encounters, is to learn how to perceive energy directly, or at the very least begin to take the notion of non-organic predatory lifeforms very seriously. And most importantly, I feel that all people that often encounter such para-normal other beings, should know how to use inner alchemy techniques. So that, knowing or suspecting, that you are indeed facing a predatory entity, you begin to use powerful techniques to not only fight off such predation, but also take from the takers. This is accomplished by mastering techniques that can allow you to pull energy from them in the same way that they are trying to pull energy from you.

I discuss these techniques, along with the nature of these non-organic predators, at length in the book, the vampires way, mentioned at the beginning of this article. But as the crux of the information presented here, I want you to consider the possibility that the angel that you see, just might be a devil, and that the way to know which is which is to notice if this interaction that you are having is truly helpful, or if it is just emotionally draining without much in the way of actual concrete assistance.

If you are losing vitality but are getting nothing truly solid from the encounter, then it is quite likely that you are dealing with a predator, not a helper.

Life is far far more varied than the current rational reality map believes possible. We are not the apex predator that we feel we are, we do not stand tall at the tip of some evolutionary tree like mighty gods, as the current rational world view says. Instead, we fit into a hierarchy of existence that in its complexity does not just include the organic and the physical, but also the non-organic, which encapsulates complexities of such vast proportions, that humanity in its hubris might just go insane, if it were able to truly discover the true nature of cosmic reality.