The journey of katabasis begins not with a triumphant plunge but with a disorienting fall. After the enthronement of crystalline clarity and direct gaze into the Nous Eye, the luminous altitude collapses downward. The mind that stretched into high noetic light suddenly finds itself heavy, sinking into strata where clarity becomes viscous and charged. The shift carries the unmistakable tone of being dragged down after dwelling in radiance. This is the first movement of purgation, corresponding to the alchemical nigredo, the putrefaction that precedes all renewal. As the Hermetic Arcanum and the Golden Chain of Homer emphasize, putrefaction is not corruption but the necessary dissolution of forms so that a higher life may take root.
The Descent of the Orange Orb
In this stage, an orb of orange light forms outside the body, near the lower centers. It does not carry the translucent brilliance of the higher spheres. Instead, it is dense, adhesive, emotionally thick. Its resonance is unmistakably tied to the sacral current. The body registers this as heaviness in the abdomen, a throbbing or congested pulse. The orb is not mere light but coagulated astral matter — vital fire condensed through distortion. It is the crystallization of unresolved emotional force.
Here Éliphas Lévi’s teaching on the astral light becomes relevant. According to Lévi, psychic energies impressed by misdirected will condense into autonomous forms, becoming what he termed “larvae.” These entities feed upon vitality until discharged or purified. The orb represents such coagulation of astral residue.
The Serpents Begin Their Work
Serpents appear, coiling around the arms, sinking their fangs into the orange orb. They siphon its charge, slowly unraveling its substance. These ophidian forces do not act as destroyers but as purifiers. By feeding, they reclaim misdirected creative energy. Arms, the instruments of agency, are cleansed of astral residue so that true action may again flow. Yet one serpent remains aloof, stationed at the brow. This serpent does not feed. It watches. Its gaze is a quiet surveillance, the reminder that higher intelligence oversees the purge.
The image recalls the Chaldean Oracles, where serpentine fire functions as mediator between Nous and matter, purifying the channels of ascent and descent. In this context, the serpents act as theurgic agents of cosmic fire, restoring equilibrium to creative force.
Emergence of Worms
The next expulsion is more visceral. From the solar plexus, thick, slimy worms crawl outward. Their presence is revolting — sluggish, damp, resistant to beauty. They do not struggle when expelled. They leave as though consent has been withdrawn, as though the field that once tolerated them has sealed its gates. These worms are parasitic forms, remnants of ancestral contracts or thought-forms that have embedded themselves in the vital center of identity and will. Paracelsus described such astral parasites as the roots of disease, and later Franz Bardon instructed that the solar plexus must be purged of such influences to restore elemental balance. Lévi likewise called them “larvae,” hungry shadows clinging to vitality until deliberately removed.
Yet even these worms are not enemies in the highest sense. They are the agents of chthonic digestion. They belong to the stage of putrefactio — the blackening of alchemy, when what is old and stagnant decomposes so that new growth may emerge. Ancient traditions described this moment in many guises: Mesopotamian exorcists invoked the banishment of Asag demons, parasites of fever and decay; the Etruscans named the underworld spirits that fed on unresolved solar force; the Orphics spoke of serpents that barred the path, guardians testing the initiate’s readiness.
Emotional and Somatic Impressions
The inner state mirrors the symbolism. Disgust arises first, psychic nausea at what has been harbored within. This nausea is archetypal, echoing the Corpus Hermeticum where the initiate must confront the torments of matter before illumination. But as the worms leave, disgust gives way to relief — the wound drains, the congestion clears. What remains is a hollow space in the solar plexus, strangely clean, as if the body had been prepared for a new infusion of force. Emptiness here is not deficiency but readiness.
This moment also demonstrates the Hermetic axiom of vibration, articulated in the Kybalion. Parasitic forms persist only while resonance sustains them. Once consent is withdrawn and vibrational affinity severed, they depart naturally, unable to remain.
Symbolic Map of the Phase
- Orange Orb: condensed sacral-solar energy, misdirected and parasitized (Lévi’s astral residues).
- Serpents Draining: reclamation of creative power; agency restored, in harmony with the Chaldean serpentine fire.
- Worms Expelled: dissolution of ancestral contracts and parasitic larvae (Paracelsus, Bardon).
- Third Eye Serpent Watching: higher oversight guiding and measuring the process.
Toward the Next Movement
This clearing does not complete the work, but it creates space for the next unfolding. As the orange orb collapses and the worms vanish into the underworld, the serpent current begins to shift. Its presence will no longer remain hidden in the interior. Soon, it will externalize, taking form in the hand. This is the foreshadowed stage to come.
In the wake of purgation, the body feels emptied yet not diminished. The field is stripped so that a deeper power may rise. What departs in slime and shadow makes way for a brighter fire. As Iamblichus and the theurgic tradition affirm, descent and purgation prepare the soul to be re-aligned with divine powers through embodiment. This is the law of descent: the underworld must first devour the residues of the old before the higher serpent can be revealed.