WHAT IS THE HELIOS SCHOOL?

A modern day Mystery School providing the only magical and esoteric training to fully address emotional, mental and spiritual development, integrating the ancient spiritual wisdom of the West with the latest psychological techniques from Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP).

The purpose of “Helios” is to create training in the Western Mysteries that truly enables students to create fulfilling and magical lives for themselves and those they love. To enable students to identify their purpose in life and to live that purpose as fully as possible. The vision of the founders of the Helios School of Esoteric Science is to create initiates who are worthy of that term. Who truly bless the Earth upon which they walk and who carry the Torch of the Mysteries on to the next generation of spiritual seekers.

THE HISTORY OF HELIOS

The Helios School was originally founded as The Academy of the Opened Ways in 2009 by Andy Cooper and a small group of fellow initiates from the Servants of the Light School of Occult Science (SOL). Andy had first conceived the idea of creating a new daughter school of the SOL in 1998 during a conversation with Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki, the Director of Studies of the SOL. He felt that the ancient teaching needed a new, modern and refreshing method of presentation, incorporating everything that is good from the traditional ways plus new approaches from the personal development and corporate learning worlds.

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It was to be another ten years of study, research and hard work before the school finally started to take shape. During this time Andy Completed his Ph.D in Esoteric Studies with the American Pacific University in Honolulu, Hawaii. His research was into creating a new training in the Western Mystery tradition based on using the NLP behavioural modelling techniques developed by Robert Dilts to model famous, currently living practising magicians and to elicit the values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviours that enable them to be effective magicians. Having done this, Andy created a training programming using key concepts from NLP and hypnosis to install these values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviours into his students. This is the core research that informed the design of the current helios First Degree Training.


In mid 2008 the Academy of the Opened Ways was created with the blessings of Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki, the Head of the Servants of the Light school and it received a charter signed by Dolores formally acknowledging the Academy of the Opened ways as a daughter school of the Servants of the Light. The First Degree Training was launched in early 2009. Between 2009 and 2012 we incorporated all of the feedback from the initial group of students, restructured and expanded the original training, added in the core Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) personal development content and re-launched it for a wider audience. In acknowledgement of the restructured and redesigned training and with promptings from the inner plane contacts of the school, we renamed The Academy of the Opened Ways the Helios School of Esoteric Science.


Helios was the original name of the mail order esoteric book service that first launched the “Helios Course” in the early 1960’s. The Helios Course soon outgrew its roots in the Helios book service and evolved into the Servants of the Light School of Occult Science (SOL) in 1974. So by taking the Helios name (with the blessings of both the original founders of the Helios Book Service and the SOL) we are implicitly acknowledging (and honouring) our origins in the early 1960’s through the pioneering work done by Gareth Knight and Ernest Butler, the original authors of the Helios Course.


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At Helios we are always incorporating feedback from students in our training content. Hence in 2015 we decided it was time to refresh and restructure the training content and make it available to a wider audience through a much improved delivery infrastructure. Web technology has moved on considerably since the first Helios website was launched in 2012, and we are now able to offer the suite of Helios training through a web-based learning management system, creating a significantly enhanced learning experience. More details can be found on our training pages.

We retain the “Opened Ways” name and original logo that you can see here for the inner order of the school which students are admitted to upon completion of the Second Degree training and receiving initiation into the Second Degree of the school.

The Helios Team

Founder & Director of Studies Dr. Andy Cooper

Andy is a Third Degree Initiate of the Western Mystery Tradition and the Director of Studies of the Helios School of Esoteric Science. He personally trained for many years with Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki, the (now retired) Director of Studies of the Servants of the Light School of Occult Science (SOL). His lineage comes from Dion Fortune, the founder of the Society of the Inner Light, through Ernest Butler, the founder of the Servants of the Light and Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki, its current Director of Studies. Andy holds a Ph.D in Esoteric Studies and is a certified trainer of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), a Reiki Master and an initiate of the Huna tradition of ancient Hawaii. Andy currently lives and works in the magical town of Glastonbury in the United Kingdom.

Third Degree Initiate & Master Trainer of NLP Lynn Robinson

Lynn is a Master Trainer of NLP, an initiate of the Hawaiian Huna Tradition, a Reiki Master and a Third Degree Initiate of the Western Mystery Tradition. Based in Vancouver, Canada, she runs her own training and consultancy company, specialising in leadership training, sales training, personal development, coaching and Neuro Linguistic Programming. Lynn works with both corporate clients and individuals. Lynn’s input on the First Degree training has been significant, writing most of the NLP Practitioner Material in Module 10 and presenting the NLP Certification training that makes up Module 11. Lynn and Andy have worked together and trained together corporately for many years presenting sales training and personal development training to companies in the US and the UK.

Second Degree Initiate & Master Practitioner of NLP Dr. Uwe Kreis

Uwe is a Master Practitioner of NLP, a Reiki Master, an initiate of the Hawaiian Huna Tradition and a Second Degree Initiate of the Western Mystery Tradition. A university lecturer in Vancouver, Canada, Uwe holds a Ph.D in organic chemistry and is an expert in aromatherapy. He has blended the Helios Oil that is available for students to purchase and his input on the training materials and reviewing content has been invaluable.

SCHOOL STRUCTURE

Like the Mystery Schools of ancient times, and the great Egyptian (Alexandrian) Mystery School to which Helios is affiliated on the Inner Levels, Helios is organised as a three level structure.

First Degree (The Outer Court)

 

“The Helios School of Esoteric Science” encompasses both the First and Second Degree Courses and the name by which the school is known to the world at large. Students following the First Degree Training (“The Portal of the Mysteries”) learn and study the basics of personal and spiritual development and magical practice in the Western Mysteries. This includes the Qabalah, Tarot and Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) techniques.

This is the “outer court” of the school, and the patron of “Helios” is Hermes, the Messenger of the Gods, Bringer of the Divine Seed of Self-Knowledge in the Greek Tradition and another aspect of Thoth, the great Egyptian sage, Lord of Magic and writer of the Emerald Tablets. For practical ceremonial (ritual) magic work, students will wear white robes tied with a white cord at the waist. Students who have completed Module Six of the First Degree Course will swap their white cord for a Gold Cord. First Degree Initiates will wear the traditional scarlet cord, the symbol of initiation in most of the schools of the Western Mystery Tradition.

The training in preparation for the Second Degree is called “The Journey of Ra” and is based on ancient Egyptian magic and metaphysics. It is an intensive, two-year training programme that includes energy healing work and psychological healing techniques.

Second Degree (The Inner Court)

The Order of the Opened Ways is the order to which students are admitted upon receiving initiation into the Second Degree and forms the “inner court” of the school. This is a magical order that offers both practical work and training towards the Third Degree Initiation if students choose to follow this path toward the “Unreserved Dedication.”

It is probable that for most initiates, the commitment of the ‘Unreserved Dedication” (devoting their life to teaching the Mysteries and passing on the torch to the next generation) is more than they are able to make, given the demands of work and family life. Therefore Second Degree Initiates can stay at this level and will continue to develop and grow magically and spiritually through the programme of practical work and research offered as members of the Order of the Opened Ways.

This work includes advanced energy healing, the option of running a lodge, mentoring students and assisting at workshops together with research into specific areas of magical practice and contributing towards new training programmes within the school. Second Degree Initiates wear a deep blue robe for practical work tied at the waist with the silver cord signifying the Second Degree Initiation. The insignia of the Inner Court is encircled by the phrase “Fraternitatis Alexandrae Sigillum Sanctum” indicating that initiates are members of an esoteric fraternity with its roots stretching back to the ancient library of Alexandria. The patron of the Order of the Opened Ways is Anubis, the Egyptian psychopomp, Walker between the Worlds and the “Opener of the Ways.”

Third level

This is a withdrawn order of the Fraternitatis Alexandrae and is the order to which members are admitted upon receiving the Third Degree Initiation and making the Unreserved Dedication. This is the “Adytum” of the school and the symbol of this level is the Amethyst. The teaching is withdrawn; suffice to say that it includes both Egyptian and Atlantean mystery teachings. The patrons of the Fraterniatis Alexandrae make themselves known through the initiates’ own inner plane contacts.

Third Degree Initiates wear an amethyst robe tied at the waist with the amethyst cord representing the Third Degree Initiation and the Unreserved Dedication.


CONTACT


We prefer all our communications to be via email, as all of the school staff travel frequently and email is the easiest, fastest and most flexible way of reaching us. Our contact email addresses are as follows:

Administration/website issues     [email protected]
Membership enquiries [email protected]