Meditations MMM and AAA in Liber HHH
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Any recommendations to someone who is not a member of the A.A. (or any other organisations) on the practice of these meditations? Especially regarding frequency and preliminaries, ceremonial or otherwise (at least for MMM, the instructions are much clearer for AAA in this regard).
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@bdc said
"Any recommendations to someone who is not a member of the A.A. (or any other organisations) on the practice of these meditations? Especially regarding frequency and preliminaries, ceremonial or otherwise (at least for MMM, the instructions are much clearer for AAA in this regard)."
Just do them... the mian advantage you lose by not being in A.'.A.'. is you don't have anyone to confirm whether you got the thing AC set up as a test. Then again, in that situation, you don't have to pass a test!
Frequency... highly individual. Not so often as to try it every night. Maybe once a week for a while. (Or maybe a bit more often than that, or a bit less often than that.)
Preliminaries: These are assigned to the A.'.A.'. 2=9 who, among other things, would have already passed examination in "astral journeying." For best effect, then, one should have that skill pretty much under your belt. Some small things won't be evident without solid familiarity with Liber Resh. And, of course, you need more than a little skill and sensitivity in meditation.
OTOH there is much to gain from these, even if you don't have all of these skills hammered down, simply by going through them anyway.
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Planning to start practising meditation AAA, after spending the last few months with weekly practice of MMM, and have a few questions on the instructions in Liber HHH:
"Also that the Temple should be ceremonially open as thou hast knowledge and skill to perform, and that at the end thereof the closing should be most carefully accomplished."
Looking at Liber Cadaveris, the opening and closing in that seems the most ideal, but there are a few signs and names left blank. Is this obligated material?
Is it correct that this opening and closing achieves the same thing as the consecration of the vault of the adepts? Should then some adaptation of the Golden Dawn portal ritual be best employed as an alternative?
"But in the preliminary practice it is enough to cleanse thyself by ablution, by robing, and by the rituals of the Pentagram and Hexagram."
Is it best to begin with banishing forms of both (and if in this case is it also closed by both banishing rituals once again?), the invoking forms of both, or the banishing pentagram followed by the invoking hexagram?
Many thanks!
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@bdc said
"Looking at Liber Cadaveris, the opening and closing in that seems the most ideal, but there are a few signs and names left blank. Is this obligated material?"
Technically, the whole ritual is obligated. I know it's leaked - that's the way it goes. But the grade rituals are nearly the only part of the A.'.A.'. that is intentionally not public (for probably an obvious reason: it would spoil the experience of those passing through it).
For that reason, I don't discuss the contents with anyone that I can't confirm has been properly raised to 2=9 in the regular system.
OTOH if you are doing this work on your own, outside of the regular system, you likely can make guesses and adaptations suitable to your own formula.
"orrect that this opening and closing achieves the same thing as the consecration of the vault of the adepts?"
Not really. It's based on the same underlying formula as the GD 5=6 Opening only if you consider the Portal ritual part of the 5=6 (as some do). That is, it's substantially an adaptation of the Portal opening. (Oh, I see you made that observation in your next sentence.)
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"But in the preliminary practice it is enough to cleanse thyself by ablution, by robing, and by the rituals of the Pentagram and Hexagram."Is it best to begin with banishing forms of both (and if in this case is it also closed by both banishing rituals once again?), the invoking forms of both, or the banishing pentagram followed by the invoking hexagram? "
Banishing, yes, particularly at first. (The invoking might be useful if you find yourself drained of emotional / astral / physical energy or more than flitting morbidity sets in.)
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I'm feeling drawn to work with these meditations again, and have a couple of questions I didn't think to ask the first time round:
The changes in posture (fall supine with arms outstretched, leap to one's feet, position of the hanged man in MMM, rise and stand in line 13 of AAA), are these intended to be physically done or to be done in the imagination / done in the astral body alone?
The end of MMM, "partake mystically of the Eucharist of the Five Elements", for the practice of this meditation, should one literally have incense, fire, wine and bread prepared to actually consume, or is it - being a "mystical" partaking - more metaphorical, representing, say, the return to the sense and normal consciousness? -
@bdc said
"The changes in posture (fall supine with arms outstretched, leap to one's feet, position of the hanged man in MMM, rise and stand in line 13 of AAA), are these intended to be physically done or to be done in the imagination / done in the astral body alone?"
(You're going to hate my answer. Really, you're gonna hate it.)
Try it both ways. Record the results.
To say more:
That's not just "let them find out for themselves." It's also that there are different levels (depths) of performing it, different things one is impelled to do when doing it. This, though, doesn't just mean, "Whichever way you want to do it," because one approach will produce discernibly different results than the other.
"The end of MMM, "partake mystically of the Eucharist of the Five Elements", for the practice of this meditation, should one literally have incense, fire, wine and bread prepared to actually consume, or is it - being a "mystical" partaking - more metaphorical, representing, say, the return to the sense and normal consciousness?"
Personally, I see it both (or various) ways. As one approaches the level of intimate communion with the HGA, there are very deep metaphysical levels of this. Some of these (or symbols or inferences of them) can show much later. But, in general, why not have a properly equipped 1=10 altar and conclude (grounding and integrating) as in the 1=10 initiation? - I can honestly say that after something like 400 performances of the Mystic Repast in full temple, I can't draw clear lines between these layers anymore (without being utterly arbitrary).