Replacing the name Aiwass...
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I apologize for repeating a question that has already been asked, but I can't seem to find the thread referencing it.
As I understand it: the so-called Thelemic Qabbalistic Cross places the name Aiwass in Tipereth. If the magician knows their Angel's name the are to substitute it for Aiwass. (Which has a DRAMATIC effect might I add.)
Now, here are my quesitons:
In Liber Reguli, should Aiwass again be substituted for the Angel's name?
Also, is it advisable do the same with the God-name in Tipereth while performing the Middle Pillar?
Much obliged.
Fr. AI
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@TheSilent1 said
"As I understand it: the so-called Thelemic Qabbalistic Cross places the name Aiwass in Tipereth. If the magician knows their Angel's name the are to substitute it for Aiwass."
Correct.
"In Liber Reguli, should Aiwass again be substituted for the Angel's name?"
There was no similar recommendation about this from Crowley. It seems inappropriate to me because of where it is substituted, and because Reguli intends to pile as many explicitly Thelemic connections in place as possible.
"Also, is it advisable do the same with the God-name in Tipereth while performing the Middle Pillar?"
I won't go so far as to say that's a bad idea; but I will say that we don't teach it that way.
My initial impression is that this is contrary to the specific formula of that ritual. The substitution in the Pentagram ritual isn't about equating the HGA to Tiphereth so much as it is about placing it in the sequence of words formulating the Qab Cross. In the Middle Pillar, every divine name vibrated is implicitly the HGA (in the sense that all god-names are this), but they server their function through distinguishing the different sephiroth.
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Got it. Thank you for the clarification.
Fr AI
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With respect to Reguli, my opinion is no. Being "an incantation proper to invoke the Energies of the Aeon of Horus," it is a bit more generic in its application than Liber Samekh, for example. Aiwass is the noetic element of the pantheon described in the "Vertical [and] Horizontal Component(s) of the Enchantment" to which you refer. The "Energies," or current, if you prefer, can be chaotic when manifesting, especially via this rite, so it only stands to reason that one would not want to exacerbate that potential effect by excluding the noetic component (or "being" if that's more palatable) through which its manifestation was communicated to a human mind.
Additionally, replacing the name Aiwass with that of the HGA assumes that the HGA knows and/or cares that it is the Aeon of Horus. (Please note that I'm not suggesting that the HGA wouldn't know that you or I
believe that it's the Aeon of Horus.)There's also the issue, much addressed on this list, of Aiwass as Crowley's HGA and the utility of the rest of us using that name as a temporary stand in for our own. That horse has been beaten into oblivion, so the short version is that we have to learn to "walk and chew gum" with this issue.
Tangentially, it has been the subject of debate as to whether or not Liber Reguli is useful, harmful, or perhaps even the "trap" that Crowley put into Magick in Theory and Practice. I think knowledge of the intended target of its energies is helpful in discerning that. Looking at the etymology of the word "incantation" is helpful for that purpose, as is a gander at Liber LXV Ch. V vs. 5.
Regarding the Middle Pillar, I would also say no. Tiphareth is where we meet the HGA (so to speak), not where it
is. I've always liked the way a friend put it: "The HGA is the Kether of your universe."