Month: June 2010

Formulation of the Body of Light in Thelema

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

Formulation of the Body of Light in Thelema

NOTE: Written originally on January 5, 2010

  1. Imagine an image of yourself, standing in from of you.
  2. Transfer your consciousness to it.
  3. Rise upward.
  4. Invoking forces desired by the prescribed methods.
  5. Observe their appearance.
  6. Test their authenticity.
  7. Enter into conversation with them.
  8. Travel under their guidance to the particular part of the universe which you desire to explore.
  9. Return to earth.
  10. Cause the Body of Light to coincide spatially with the physical.
  11. Reconnect them, using the sign of Harpocrates.
  12. Resume normal consciousness.
  13. Record the experience.
  14. Test its value by the critical methods advocated in The Equinox.

based on Confessions, ch.26

Supplemental quotations

  • “…the results of our magical experiments are naturally and necessarily very distinct from those which we obtain by ordinary methods. To begin with we must build up an apparatus of examination, and this we do by discovering and developing qualities in our own structure which are suitable for the purpose. The first step is the separation of (what we call, for convenience) the astral body from the physical body… All Magical action may be classed as under the formula of progression from the “0” to the “2”; in other words it is complete extraversion. The aspiring Magician only analyses himself for the purpose of finding new worlds to conquer. His first objective is the astral plane; its discovery, the classification of its tenants, and their control.” (MWT, ch.LXXXIII)
  • “The proper method is as follows: — Develop the body of Light until it is just as real to you as your other body, teach it to travel to any desired symbol, and enable it to perform all necessary Rites and Invocations. In short, educate it. Ultimately, the relation of that body with your own must be exceedingly intimate; but before this harmonizing takes place, you should begin by a careful differentiation. The first thing to do, therefore, is to get the body outside your own. To avoid muddling the two, you begin by imagining a shape resembling yourself standing in front of you. Do not say: “Oh, it’s only imagination!” The time to test that is later on, when you have secured a fairly clear mental image of such a body. Try to imagine how your own body would look if you were standing in its place; try to transfer your consciousness to the Body of Light. Your own body has its eyes shut. Use the eyes of the Body of Light to describe the objects in the room behind you. Don’t say. “It’s only an effort of subconscious memory” … the time to test that is later on. As soon as you feel more or less at home in the fine body, let it rise in the air. Keep on feeling the sense of rising; keep on looking about you as you rise until you see landscapes or beings of the astral plane. Such have a quality all their own. They are not like material things — they are not like mental pictures — they seem to lie between the two. After some practice has made you adept, so that in the course of any hour’s journey you can reckon on having a fairly eventful time, turn your attention to reaching a definite place on the astral plane; invoke Mercury, for example, and examine carefully your record of the resulting vision — discover whether the symbols which you have seen correspond with the conventional symbols of Mercury.” (MiTP, ch.XXVIII)
  • “Travel also much in the Empyrean in the Body of Light, seeking ever Abodes more fiery and lucid.” (Aleph)

Love is the law, love under will.

The Path of Excess in Thelema

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

sun_over_pyramid

The notion of the Middle Path is a view passed down to us most notably by Buddha and Aristotle. Buddha emphasized the Middle Way in the context of attainment, saying that the path of moderation lies between the extremes of austerity and indulgence. Aristotle emphasized what he called the Doctrine of the Mean, where ‘virtue’ lies precisely in the middle between the two extremes of any moral action: virtue is the ‘mean’ between two vices.

Thelema, on the other hand, is the Path of Excess. In this New Aeon, we venture to encounter both extremes in whatever case: indulgence & austerity, pride & humility, good & evil, heights & depths. The Book of the Law gives this formula clearly: “But exceed! exceed! Strive ever to more! and if thou art truly mine — and doubt it not, an if thou art ever joyous! — death is the crown of all” (II:71-72). The formula is given in even more detail in our Holy Book “Liber Tzaddi vel Hamus Hermeticus:”

33. I reveal unto you a great mystery. Ye stand between the abyss of height and the abyss of depth.
34. In either awaits you a Companion; and that Companion is Yourself.
35. Ye can have no other Companion.
36. Many have arisen, being wise. They have said “Seek out the glittering Image in the place ever golden, and unite yourselves with It.”
37. Many have arisen, being foolish. They have said, “Stoop down unto the darkly splendid world, and be wedded to that Blind Creature of the Slime.”
38. I who am beyond Wisdom and Folly, arise and say unto you: achieve both weddings! Unite yourselves with both!
39. Beware, beware, I say, lest ye seek after the one and lose the other!
40. My adepts stand upright; their head above the heavens, their feet below the hells.

Only in climbing towards the heights and plunging into the depths do we come to understand these Companions – that is, we come to know our own heights and depths instead of merely our average or middle-ground.

One could imagine the Middle Way or the Doctrine of the Mean as a tower or stick with a small base, easily blown over by the winds. The Path of Excess is opposite to this: we make our base as wide as possible so as to build the sturdiest foundations for our Pyramid. For every growth our plant makes upwards, we drive our roots deeper into the ground.

We now pass to Satyr-Saint Nietzsche who uncovered the insidious psychology behind these paths of the Middle and Mean… that what they call ‘moderation’ is actually ‘mediocrity:’

I pass through this people and keep mine eyes open; they have become smaller, and ever become smaller: the reason thereof is their doctrine of happiness and virtue.

For they are moderate also in virtue, because they want comfort. With comfort, however, moderate virtue only is compatible…

Some of them will, but most of them are willed. Some of them are genuine, but most of them are bad actors…

Virtue for them is what maketh modest and tame: therewith have they made the wolf a dog, and man himself man’s best domestic animal.

“We set our chair in the midst” – so saith their smirking unto me – “and as far from dying gladiators as from satisfied swine.” That, however, is mediocrity, though it be called moderation.“ (Thus Spake Zarathustra, “The Bedwarfing Virtue”)

This is the fact: the ‘moderate’ man is the ‘average’ man and therefore the mediocre man. He is nothing special, nothing important, nothing overly radiant or unique. These doctrines don’t breed lions & wolves but domesticated animals. At the back of of these virtues are the desire for tameness, comfort, and security. Not only do these people fear the extremes in themselves, setting up a division and therefore a restriction of their very Being, but they consequently fear the Extreme and Excessive being expressed in others. Fear and the desire for secure comfort are antithetical to the strong spirit of Will that is self-asserted, love-driven, strong, beautiful, and leaps with laughter. Our Prophet explains in his commentary to The Book of the Law this exact idea:

“Progress, as its very etymology declares, means A Step Ahead. It is the Genius, the Eccentric, the Man Who Goes One Better than his fellows, that is the Saviour of the Race. And while it is unwise possibly (in some senses) to exceed in certain respects, we may be sure that he who exceeds in no respect is a mediocrity.“

And therefore we close with a line from William Blake that To Mega Therion himself quoted as commentary to “Exceed! Exceed!” from Liber AL:

“The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.”

Love is the law, love under will.

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The Qabalistic Keys to Thelemic Mysticism

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

Rose-Cross

NOTE: Written originally on December 28, 2009

i) The Human Soul is divided among the Tree of Life as the Neschamah, Ruach, and Nephesh.

ii) Neschamah corresponds to the Supernal Triangle which is the 3-in-1 of Jechidah, Chiah, and Neschamah; Ruach is the mind and the Nephesh includes both the body & physical world. [1]

iii) The Soul encompasses the whole Tree. [2]

iv) In the elemental schema, Spirit is assigned to the Supernal Triangle, the elements of Air/Fire/Water to the Mental Triangle, and Earth to the Physical pendant, i.e. Malkuth. Further, it is useful to consider Neschamah as inside rather than ‘above’ c.f. Kether as “center & secret of the sun”/Tiphareth, with Ruach & Nephesh about the core.

v) ‘Understanding’ is for the Neschamah, ‘Knowledge’ for the Ruach.

vi) ‘Knowledge’ is ‘lower knowledge’ of relations, facts, etc. and is subject to logic.

vii) Understanding is ‘higher knowledge’ or ‘gnosis’ which is supra-logical. This is the reason why Truth is expressed in paradox and said to be beyond Reason by virtually all mystics. [3]

viiii) Nephesh & Ruach (body & mind) block perception of Neschamah, but they are also the means of Manifestation of the Neschamah.

ix) The Ruach can only reach up to Da’ath which is a “false sephira.” This re-iterates the fact that truth is supra-rational/logical. [4]

x) The goal of Yoga is expressed Qabalistically with the number ‘0.’  [5]

xi) 0 or ‘Nothing’ is used instead of 1 or ‘Unity’ because 1 is opposed to & canceled out by -1. 0 therefore expresses the result of the union of opposites, and “Yoga means Union.” [6]

xii) Other numbers (and images) also express this same idea, yet “every number is infinite, there is no difference” in that they all “shadow forth the Ineffable” and Infinite. [7]

xiii) The unity is between seer and seen, subject and object, perceiver and perceived in consciousness. The ‘evil’ in this case (being relative to our particular task) is separation of any kind, primarily between self and environment/ego and the world/Me and thee. [8]

xiv) This is expressed symbolically as 0, as stated in (ix), as well as the Rose-Cross, cross in the circle, point in the circle, the hexagram, mother and father, and essentially any other symbol that is Two-in-One. This is sometimes called Three-in-One because the ‘Third’ is concealed in the Entire Image in one sense. [9]

[1] See Little Essays Toward Truth, “Man.” Neschamah encompasses Kether, Chokmah, and Binah; Ruach encompasses Chesed, Geburah, Tiphareth, Netzach, Hod, and Yesod; Nephesh encompasses Malkuth.

[2] Further: The glyph of Venus encompasses the Tree of Life like the Human Soul cf. (iii). Venus is the glyph of Love which, in its most abstract form, is unity between any two things. Qabalistically ‘Love’/Venus refers to the uniting principle between Chokmah & Binah or Father & Mother of the Supernal Triangle which is yet another Two-in-One symbol c.f. (xiii)

[3] See the “Mundaka Upanishad” on this idea of higher knowledge pertaining to Self-knowledge and lower knowledge pertaining to all things we think of knowledge like science, history, math, philosophy, logic, facts in general, etc.

[4] “Briefly, Truth is an idea of a supra-rational order, pertaining to Neschamah, not to Ruach.” See Little Essays Toward Truth, “Truth”

[5] See Crowley’s “Berashith”, 777, and Book of Thoth (Atu 0: Fool) on this point.

[6] See Eight Lectures on Yoga, Lecture 1.

[7] See Liber AL I:4 and see footnote 9 below.

[8] “There was the Door to which I found no Key; / There was the Veil through which I might not see: / Some little talk awhile of Me and Thee / There was–and then no more of Thee and Me.” –Omar Khayyam, The Rubaiyat.

[9] “If we in any way shadow forth the Ineffable, it must be by a degradation. Every symbol is a blasphemy against the Truth that it indicates. A painter to remind us of the sunset has no better material than dull ochre. So we need not be surprised if the Unity of Subject and Object in Consciousness which is Samadhi, the uniting of the Bride and the Lamb which is Heaven, the uniting of the Magus and the God which is Evocation, the uniting of the Man and his Holy Guardian Angel which is the seal upon the work of the Adeptus Minor, is symbolized by the geometrical unity of the circle and the square, the arithmetical unity of the 5 and the 6, and (for more universality of comprehension) the uniting of the Lingam and Yoni, the Cross and the Rose. For as in earth-life the sexual ecstasy is the loss of self in the Beloved, the creation of a third consciousness transcending its parents, which is again reflected into matter as a child; so, immeasurably higher, upon the Plane of Spirit, Subject and Object join to disappear, leaving a transcendent unity. This third is ecstasy and death; as above, so below.” -Aleister Crowley,  “The Big Stick” in The Equinox I(04)

Love is the law, love under will.