At the age of eighteen, Francis LEFEBURE was initiated by Arthème Galip, following a laying on of hands which provoked phenomena of esoteric clairvoyance, astral projection or out of body experience and visions. This Zoroastrian also showed him certain exercises, and in particular head sways, in order to maintain and to develop the capacities thus awakened. It is due to this powerful impetus that Doctor LEFEBURE discovered psychic phenomena which were going to transform his life and project him on a search which, as he was unaware of at that time, would last his entire life.

The laying on of hands, such as it was practiced formerly, did not allow us to understand what exactly gave the initiator such a power, nor that this could provoke altered states of consciousnesses and spiritual phenomena in the candidate for initiation. The explanation of these capacities was always related to philosophical or religious interpretation, most of the time non-related.

At the time when Doctor LEFEBURE received this impetus, psychic phenomena were still regarded as mysterious and were reserved for certain initiates or certain select individuals.  So, at the age of forty-four, at the moment of his encounter with the Indonesian mystic Pak Subuh, he had the certainty that these phenomena were actually due to specific practices acting at a deep level upon the whole of the cerebral functions and that they caused very particular states of consciousnesses. Like Galip, Subuh used swaying movements, but the rhythm was different.

The evening of his encounter with Subuh, while returning to his hotel, he had the idea of observing the head movements starting with a phosphene obtained in using his bedside lamp. He realized that there was only one movement of the head which made it possible to make the phosphene sway, because if he swayed his head too slowly, the phosphene remained fixed, and if he swayed his head too quickly, the phosphene disappeared.

Thus, using phosphenes, in analyzing the effect of the sways on the brain and comparing  the exercises which Galip had given him to those practiced by Subuh, Doctor LEFEBURE made his first great discovery and realized that phosphenes increase the cerebral potentialities of the individual.

The word initiation comes from Latin initium, which means commencement, beginning. The true meaning of initiation is the giving of a powerful impetus through the release of cerebral energies, in particular through sways, which will make it possible to materialize and express the highest faculties of the individual.

This discovery of the effect of rhythmic thought on cerebral capacities quite naturally places the initiatory techniques in the field of cerebral physiology. In the end, this confers to “Initiation” a much wider sense than the narrow cultural or intellectual sense it is habitually limited to: it is no longer a question of a gift or a capacity resulting from the moral quality of the individual. Doctor LEFEBURE thus highlighted the structuring action of the rhythm on the brain and thought functions. Initiation is thus not a gift of God, given as a reward to one person in particular, but rather a universal gift made to all mankind, each person being able to follow the laws of nature which the Greeks called “Physiology”.

The tradition of swaying is found in all cults and religions. It can be observed in the Jewish religion, the Islamic religion, the Sufi tradition and in the daily practices of the “sannyasin” of India (those who renounce), as well as in Asia: for example in the Shinto religion (Japan),  in China, in Taoist practices, and also in Chinese popular traditions. In Egypt, in tombs dating from the time of Akhenaton (Amenhotep IV, 14th century B.C), archaeologists have discovered mural paintings representing dancers performing what would probably be ritual sways. 

Parallel to this universal practice of swaying, there exists another point common to religious rites, initiations and all forms of mystical search: the focusing on sources of light.

For instance, the Zoroastrians use a fire, the Tibetans a flame. The sun or the moon was also worshipped. The reflection of sun on water is used by African mystics; Nostradamus used the reflection of the moon on a silver tray when he wanted to create phenomena of clairvoyance and transmit them to Catherine de Medici. The initiation rites of the Mysteries of Eleusis, which formed all the great men of Ancient Greece, whether philosophers, mathematicians or poets, consisted in focusing on a torch and then visualizing an ear of wheat with the eyes closed. In the Catholic religion, a candle is lit for prayer. In orthodox worship, the priest sways while praying and focusing on a candle’s flame.

Clairvoyants also use this rudimentary and instinctive practice when they place a candle near a crystal ball. Again, they obtain a phosphene using the reflection of light, the crystal ball acting as a magnifying glass. As all reflected light is more or less polarized, this explains flashes of clairvoyance. It is the same for «magic mirrors » which are absolutely not magical; it is their capacity for reflection that matters. We could quote hundreds of examples that all concur completely, without getting into chancy hypotheses. Studying texts, religions, cults and traditions will show the researcher that phosphenes have greatly contributed to the development of mankind.

It seems that those who had fully understood the importance of the role played by phosphenes in the development of the individual sought to dissimulate it. For example, it was prohibited, under the penalty of death, to reveal the initiation rites of the Mysteries of Eleusis. In the same way, the Taoists were the victims of persecution practiced by the lords who wanted to prevent the spreading of this knowledge. Moreover, numerous commentators have pointed out that in reading the Bible from an entirely objective point of view, one can see that Christ was put to death for the disclosure of secrets. We would add to this: secrets related to the science of phosphenes. In addition, up to that point the phenomenon of phosphenes had never been studied, due to what Doctor LEFEBURE called the “feeling of obviousness”.  The phenomenon of phosphenes is simply so obvious that one forgets to ask even the most elementary questions about it.