What does Franz Bardon mean by Fluid Condenser?

Okay so Franz Bardon is a difficult read because a lot of what he is writing about as you work through his books is very simple occult subjects but he was writing at a time when qi-gong and simple English hadn’t really impacted the Occult much yet. Many of his terms seem to come from mesmerism and animal magnetism which can overcomplicate the ideas he is trying to convey.

I really recommend him especially working from Initiation Into Hermetics (which I think was originally called something like “the Path of the True Adept” in German) and his Magickal Practice of Evocation. I don’t like to classify him as a true Hermeticist as he claims because there are far more references to terms from Yoga or “the Orient” as he often calls it. These seem more common than reference to anything like the Corpus Hermeticum which is totally absent in most of his works. I think there was one reference to the line “as above so below” from Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus. It’s about as Hermetic and Alchemical as most Witch circles that felt they would rather develop working familiarity with plants than read any Alchemical theory or history. When his writing is translated as “the Hermetic point of view” these days I tend to read it instead as “Franz Bardon’s point of view”. It is still worth reading as I said his works are one of the few that neatly bridge the gaps between novice and journeyman (or journeyperson) when it comes to Magic.

So what does fluid condenser actually mean in his writings?

It would seem that fluid means what most modern Occultists would call energy. The fire element is often referred to as Electric fluid, Water energy is referred to as magnetic fluid, air is referred to as the balancing between magnetic and electric fluids and earth energy is the previous three working together in one known as the “electromagnetic fluid”. Please note that this theory does not match with most Hermetic views. Most Hermeticists would work primarily from the Corpus Hermeticum (and if they were also qabalists the Sepher Yetzirah as well), which I think refers to each of these elements as unique and separate things. So we conclude that this is something for condensing energy.

Why would you condense energy? Well anyone who has done some work recently on psiballs / energy balls would attest, to get your energy to work powerfully you need to get it very dense. Also, it could be used for the storage of energy in a small space.

One blogger called Aerik Arkadian feels that the fluid condenser not only stores energy, but also conducts it between planes of existence, for example between the physical plane and the astral plane. I can’t fault him on that suggestion having seemed to have achieved a similar thing with virtues mentioned by Agrippa.

Franz Bardon suggests making an infusion with chamomile flowers and eyebright herb. He says that when smouldering hazel is dipped in the water it becomes a fluid condenser. It is filtered and then reduced. The resulting liquid is used to enable the eyes to better see the astral planes until such a time as they no longer need the fluid condenser. After being used it gets treated as an anti-inflamatory eye tonic.

So some recipes for fluid condensers are fluids but that is not what Bardon means. They are objects which are able to transfer the spiritual virtues from astral reality to our own. Note that Bardon talks about them like a crutch. They speed up the connection process, but it can be done without them.

While the fluid condensers that Franz Bardon mentions are fluids themselves, that’s not the meaning of the word. I have a brass pendulum which is very solid but is an incredible fluid condenser. In fact, when I have used it to channel energy in people’s hands before even people who do not believe in energy have reacted like there was incredible pain in their palms. So naturally I don’t do that any more. The reason is that when I channel energy through it, it condenses the energy to an unnatural state which often causes mild nerve burn. More about nerve burn in M. Belanger’s Psychic Vampire Codex.

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If you’re interested in the works of Franz Bardon please click on the links below to purchase his books. As an Amazon Associate, I should get a small tuppence for each purchase.

Initiation Into Hermetics is a very practical focused book which is very close to an energy work type spirituality. As I have said it is more influenced by Yoga than by Hermetics.

The Practice of Magical Evocation is a book about ceremonial magic and the summoning of entities, particularly elementals. It continues where the previous book finishes off.

Key to the True Kabbalah is a short book about a specific qabalah practice. It is interesting, but I am not sure about authenticity among other qabalah authors, so for now, I don’t recommend it to serious Qabalah students.

The Magician Fabrato is a posthumously published writing of his. While it is intended as fiction it is often suggested that many parts of the book are autobiographical.

The Golden Book of Wisdom is a compilation of notes from Bardon’s students with his letters and answers to some questions. Not a text to work from, but occasionally informative.

Rawn Clark’s Bardon Companion is a book to read alongside Initiation Into Hermetics by someone who has studied all his works and seeks to provide guidance. Published in 2010 around 50 years after his death.

Some commentaries written by people who work from his teachings can be found here. These might be more accessible than his writings and form a good companion, but I haven’t tested them for myself. One of them seems to be a series of answers to questions.