Adeptus Minor (Without) to Major
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I addressed this ambiguously in The Mystical & Magical System of the A.'.A.'. because the flow of that book was based on official documents etc.
The answer broadly, though, is the same as the answer for any other grade: Completion of the current grade (5=6 Within) and ratification by one's superior.
The task of the Adeptus Minor Within includes such things as successfully working the Paths of Mem and Lamed, and bringing an A.'.A.'. aspirant under one's care to the 5=6 grade.
Beginning at 5=6, one also has the increasing input of the HGA, and the Angel is in charge of the inner changes. There is a very distinctive shift between the relationship of Adept and Angel between 5=6 and 6=5, and most that I have known to make this transition and growing (almost pressuring) evidence of this shift, emergence of new symbols and relationships in the psyche, and more.
By still relying on the final ratification of one's mortal Superior, this helps filter out the ego-driven "Man, I must really be a Major Adept with all this shit coming through!" sort of "inner impulse."
It is clearly, though, the place where the exact point of transition is least documented, although the three parts of the 5=6 Task I gave above are all quite specific in One Star in Sight. One section of the M&MAA chapter on 6=5 says:
@M&MAA Ch 10 said
"If we write, in this chapter, more in symbolic than in concrete terms, it is partly a consequence of the level now under discussion. The level of the Major Adept’s work, being predominantly Briatic, is inherently symbolic, virtually archetypal (but no less real than, say, the disciplines of yoga that were drilled and mastered in earlier grades). Consequences on the Yetziratic and Assiatic planes are secondary. Additionally, there is less concrete guidance (in the official A.'.A.'. literature) for this grade than for any other. Crowley’s own 6=5 process is virtually undocumented. [A long footnote describes Crowley's record of the multiple incarnations he spent moving through 6=5.] Nor have we more than passing information concerning M.'.H.'. Frater Semper Paratus (James Thomas Windram) and M.'.H.'. Frater Ahah (Frank Bennett), two of Crowley’s students who attained to the 6=5 Grade; and prudence has been necessary with the records of living Major Adepts of the present generation. Therefore, as far as the Adeptus Major Grade is concerned, we will limit ourselves to the fruits of honest scholarship coordinated with the use of general or universal symbols that each can interpret progressively for himself or herself."
In the 5=6 Within chapter, I wrote in part:
@M&MAA Ch 9 said
"It is important to realize that a tremendous change has occurred within the individual who has reached this particular stage of attainment. This requires a comparable change in how we discuss these grades. The nature of the Work has changed, for the Adept is now “consciously and at will” under the direction of the Angel. The nature of evaluation and advancement have also changed; for within the Inner College, it is no longer possible to specify so clearly, a priori, the exact requirements of each grade, nor those signposts which mark the transition from one grade to the next. There are no standards for how rapidly one may progress through the grades; the archives of the Order record that any one of them may require one or more entire lifetimes to perfect. The Great Work of each Adept being different in form, each will be led through the Paths and sephiroth by those particular experiences which the Holy Guardian Angel determines are necessary to complete the corresponding inner transformations. Almost always, these “assignments” or “tests” from the Angel (ordeals which, by appearance, are raised by the circumstances and flow of the initiate’s life) will be recognizable and identifiable as they arise – or, at least, after one has passed them! Certainly, this type of experience has accompanied previous grades as well, and the aspirant’s increasing ability to observe and witness these subtle workings of the HGA is one mark of the growing rapport between an initiate and her Angel.
Although the Adeptus Minor Within has, without doubt, entered into conscious relationship (“linkage”) with the Holy Guardian Angel, this union can, under no circumstances, be considered “perfect” at this point. By the nature of the relationship, such perfection of the rapport is not possible below the Third Order, that of the Silver Star, to which the Adept has only now begun her aspiration. In fact, the course of the three Adept Grades (Adeptus Minor, Major, and Exemptus) continues to ripen and fulfill this relationship between the Adept and the Angel. As a Qabalistic reminder of this, we note that the highest influence under which the Adept now is working, that which leads her forward in the Way of the Great Work, is through the Path of Gimel; and Gimel, usually translated as the noun “camel,” is also a verb that means, “to ripen” or “to wean.”"
A footnote to the above says:
"They [the manifest ordeals] are recognizable by Qabalistic correspondences to the Paths of the Tree of Life. Ordeals and other life patterns can be witnessed to reflect symbolically the Path one is inwardly “working.” This does not mean there are no objective standards for Inner College grades. On the contrary, at each step the Adept must display certain developments and fulfill certain duties inherent in the grade or stage. Other task assignments then are made to assist in these transitions. These tasks all will be described in the remaining chapters of this book."
Does this help?
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The footnotes in your book lead me to believe that an Adeptus Minor works to increase his contact with his Angel and his balance and expertise in Magick until a time that he and his Angel, and finally his Superior deem him ready to progress to the Adeptus Major grade.
I'm also trying to understand this progression in terms of Crowley's own advancement but as you explain, the documents seem sparse. I believe that his motto for the 6=5 grade was Ol Sonuf Vaoresaji; is this correct? But we don't know when he took that motto? Would his reception of the BOL herald his 6=5 grade?
After that the Adeptus Major works on the accomplishment of the tasks assigned to Kaph, Yod, and Teth at which point the Adeptus Major shall proceed to the grade of Adeptus Exemptus at any time the "authority" confers it.
You went a little into what "authority" means, but I'm still unclear. I get the impression it's no longer a requisite that your Superior have a vote in the matter. Is that true?
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@Scarecrow said
"The footnotes in your book lead me to believe that an Adeptus Minor works to increase his contact with his Angel and his balance and expertise in Magick until a time that he and his Angel, and finally his Superior deem him ready to progress to the Adeptus Major grade."
I have no problem with this summation provided it includes "has completed the explicit tasks of the grade."
"I'm also trying to understand this progression in terms of Crowley's own advancement but as you explain, the documents seem sparse. I believe that his motto for the 6=5 grade was Ol Sonuf Vaoresaji; is this correct? But we don't know when he took that motto? Would his reception of the BOL herald his 6=5 grade?"
Yes, that was the motto. The confusion arises from the relabelling that kept occurring in the transition from Golden Dawn thinking to A.'.A.'. thinking. In the G.D. sense, Crowley assumed 6=5 about 1901. But in A.'.A.'. terms, the John St. John retreat was his initiation into 6=5 (October 1908). He discusses in that diary the difference between his prior formal ("in nature" I think were the words) admission to the grade, vs. then "spiritual" (I think he said) admission in 1908. What he meant was Yetzirah vs. Briah. (The G.D. 6=5 was Geburah in Yetzirah. The A.'.A.'. 6=5 is Geburah in Briah.)
"After that the Adeptus Major works on the accomplishment of the tasks assigned to Kaph, Yod, and Teth at which point the Adeptus Major shall proceed to the grade of Adeptus Exemptus at any time the "authority" confers it."
Yes. These summarize most parts of the task of 6=5.
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Did he have separate initiations into the rest of the grades (Golden Dawn vs AA)?
My notes say that his Adeptus Exemptus grade came in 1906 and he took the oath of the Magister Templi in 1907... which are before the 1908 John St. John initiation into 6=5... some of my sources say that it wasn't until the Vision and Voice series in 1909 that he finally accepted he had crossed the Abyss and was a Magister Templi - so I suppose I could understand this to be his "A:.A:. Magister Templi" initiation???
But what about the 7=4 grade? Did he achieve that all of a sudden after the fall from his horse? Is that both GD and AA? -
@Scarecrow said
"Did he have separate initiations into the rest of the grades (Golden Dawn vs AA)?"
On examination, it appears that his 1906 "walk across China" Abramelin work was his real A.'.A.'. 5=6 initiation. Follow the whole of the year, and it's written all over it.
At the time he thought of it as an 8=3 attainment; and, in fact, the A.'.A.'. 5=6 would have seemed M.T. in the G.D. scheme.
I've mentioned his 6=5. I can't find a clear demarcation to 7=4, but it's evident that he'd assumed the function by the time The Equinox came out six months later. Perhaps the launching of The Equinox was his 7=4 demarcation.
And Babe of the Abyss is easy to find. At the summer solstice - the event with the skis etc. - he hit it. The old structure within him collapsed. It was the setup for his walk across the Sahara in December that was his 8=3 initiation. (This indirectly answers your other questions following.)
"But what about the 7=4 grade? Did he achieve that all of a sudden after the fall from his horse? Is that both GD and AA?"
Seemed that to him at the time. I mark that as what now would be understood as his Dominus Liminis period. Quite classic, in fact.
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@Scarecrow said
"What year was the ski incident?"
I'm speaking of the incident where he found the thought-to-be-lost Liber L. manuscript under some skis. It was at the summer solstice, 1909.