Basis of Aeons
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@sasha said
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@Jim Eshelman said
"For no reason that I will try to explain rationally, and as mentioned in my last post, the Past Hierophant doesn't fit any of these patterns.See remarks earlier on Past Hierophant. I believe the layout would be Isis in the East, Osiris in the West, and Horus in the Center - which has some absolutely marvelous patterns.
(There is no direct ascent from Hierophant to Chief -this isn't a necessary progression, it just shows the fleshing out of symbolism in this particular pattern.)"
Does this come from the Cipher Manuscripts or some other source that Mathers and Westcott would have used in developing the Equinox Ceremony or the hierarchy of the order?"
I'm not sure what the antecedent is of your "this." If you mean the last sentence - in the G.D. tradition, Chief selection is unrelated to whether someone has been Hierophant etc., and there is no "progressing" to it formally - Chiefs are appointed for life (i.e., until resignation or removal), not for the standard 6-month term.
"You already mentioned the employment of a Masonic tradition for the distincitiveness of the Past-Hierophant in the rotation. I wonder, because ofor the purposes of this thread, I have a greater interest in what people intended back when, rather than how do we make sense of all of this now."
Agreed.
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@Jim Eshelman said
"When Isis sat in the East, her instructor Thoth sat behind her to whisper in her ear as the sole Chief. When she had fulfilled her term, she and her sister Nepthys joined Thoth as the other two Chiefs and the Hiereus Osiris ascended to the East."Again, does this come from a pre-Liber L source or did y'all develop this as a post-Liber L understanding of this formula?"
Neither. It's my reading of the pattern.
"I wonder because Thelemites often seem to accept Crowley's aeonic system as something as fundamental as Liber L itself."
Yes.
"Moreover, as we see in most of the relevant discussions on this board, we/they/whoever seem to accept it as something external and objective."
I certainly do. I see it measured in the evolutionary advancement of consciousness of baseline humanity, and that's an objective reality.
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@Jim Eshelman said
"I'm not sure what the antecedent is of your "this.""
I meant the deal with the past-hierophant, which you mentioned in the three quotes I compiled. So you answered it.
@Jim Eshelman said
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If you mean the last sentence - in the G.D. tradition, Chief selection is unrelated to whether someone has been Hierophant etc., and there is no "progressing" to it formally - Chiefs are appointed for life (i.e., until resignation or removal), not for the standard 6-month term."Good point. I never really thought about the actual officer adoption. I thought about the chiefs in terms of the relation to the Tree, assuming a rotation from Thoth (Tiphareth) to Nephthys (Geburah) to Isis (Chesed).
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@Mysteria said
"If the formula of Horus is ABRAHADABRA and the formula of Osiris is IAO.... What was the formula of Isis?"
Excellent question. I don't know that anyone has ever professed to know.
I have occasionally toyed with the idea that it was ALHIM. I think this is not the case; but I do know that it was the feminine, pre-patristic formula of Divinity among the Hebrews. It at least has the right sort of idea.
But since words per se pertain to the development of Ruach (i.e., Osiris Aeon development), word-formulae may not exist surviving from the Nepheshic Isis Aeon.
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With the ideas of Aeons and whatnot, someone explained to me that each consecutive Aeon fits around the last one like a set of Russian dolls, one inside another, so that each system is valid but contained within the present formula.
My thinking on that is that I find it somewhat funny that these Aeons are all represented by some of the oldest religious ideas available to us which come from ancient Egypt. The "New Aeon" is supposedly the Aeon of Horus, an old God, even older than YHVH. By the way, where was "YHVH" in ancient Egypt, if Moses learned his magic from them? YHVH / Jehovah represented the Aeon of Osiris, apparently, so I guess the Egyptian motif is just a template to work with. I'm not sure it fits perfectly, but I'm not saying it is wrong.
"The return of Jesus at Armageddon" could conceivably correspond with the "Crowned and Conquering Child" of Horus, since this obviously refers to the elevation of the personality to a higher level (Crown = Kether, Jesus = Tiphareth, which reflects Kether and is the Sephira representing the HGA).
One thing I found interesting about [typical occult person's] summary of history was the idea of a Matriarchal society (Aeon of Isis) followed by a Patriarchal society (Aeon of Osiris) followed by Individual Freedom (Aeon of Horus)... some people say that after Horus comes the Aeon of Ma'at. Some people claim we are already entering the Aeon of Ma'at, but I find that hard to believe if we just barely entered the Aeon of Horus. The problem with this idea is, while it is something I have always taken for granted, having recently looked into it, it appears there are many people who say this idea of a Matriarchal society of the past is 100% pure myth. There are several books written about it and many online articles. Just Google "myth of the matriarch" and you'll see what I mean.
So, if Aeon #1 is a myth, does the rest of the theory tumble like a house of cards?
But, I think of the Universe as Mental and, ultimately, the One force behind Everything as Mental. This idea/process is laid out in amazing detail in the book "Quantum Gods" by Jeff Love. It's one of those books that radically changed my understanding of Qabalah. And the more I learn, it still seems to fit quite nicely. Basically, the idea is that to fundamentally simplify a "point of creation," it starts out with a pre-verbal thought that is Self-Realization. This is the Will to simply Be. Throughout infinity, all these points of realization came into being at once and came to know themselves and each other in relation to other points of beingness. This sets up a hologram kind of situation not unlike Holographic Universe Theory; everything reflects everything else. I guess it's pretty abstract, but it is much less abstract in the book "Quantum Gods" by Jeff Love, where the author describes it logically bit by bit, Sephirah by Sephirah.
I was thinking about this today over lunch when suddenly the phrase popped into my head: "stare into the abyss long enough and the abyss stares back into you." Suddenly this phrase revealed a new meaning to me. It is like looking into a mirror. The Abyss stares back into you; a reflection. Essentially, we are all nothing! This is why we co-created everything-- to be SOMETHING. 0=2?
I think underlying physical reality are principles essentially described as Male and Female, which is probably why the specifics of the God representing the Aeon don't matter so much. Jehovah's Aeon was Osiris's Aeon; now we're supposedly in Horus's Aeon. I don't even know what the idea of an Aeon really means other than an overall mental outlook that is predominant at any specific moment in time expressed in Malkuth. I also suspect any Gods are a shade of the ultimate nature of the energy they express. Shiva and Shakti are not the same exact things as Western corresponding ideas and formulas.
The commandment "Put no gods before me" I believe is essentially saying to understand the Mental formula YHVH that is within you/without you, the Christ that is born of Virgin birth (in your bloodstream), is the center of your physical universe: YOU are that God, (the Crowned and Conquering Child?), listen to your own Higher Self above all other tempting spirits. This seems why Paul Foster Case makes it so clear that the Voice always acts in your favor and never flatters you, never commands you, cajoles or threatens you. Seems a good way to test "the spirits." The Higher Self/HGA/Superconscious has your best interests at heart-- put no other gods before it!
I think getting too tied up in the idea of Aeonics is probably not a good idea. I mean, it seems that each individual person is responsible for his own Aeon. Think of it, we have all kinds of civilizations believing all different things here on Earth right now... and always have. And what of the idea of multiple worlds? Perhaps there are different grounds of being for different levels of spiritual maturity. In your 70-90-some years in this life, how will knowledge of a 2,000 year Aeon benefit you?
Just some random thoughts. Any responses welcomed.
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@Jim Eshelman said
"The idea of the evolution of the Aeons and the assumption of the Throne of the Hierophant by Ra-Hoor-Khuit came from there and clearly referenced the Golden Dawn equinox ritual. In Chapter 3 there is then the reference to the last Aeon's Hegemon as the next Aeon's Hierophant. Though this "progression of the stations" isn't the same as the unfolding of the Aeons, it's closely tied in with it."
Lots of good stuff in this thread; sorry to come late to the game.
Bringing in the 12 astrological ages helps with some of this. (Via the precession of the equinoxes.) Didn't Benjamin Rowe write about the vernal/autumnal "axis" of each age as having a lot to do with its character? The new "active" age of Horus being Aquarius/Leo; the last one being Pisces/Virgo (the Jesus fish born of a virgin) and so on.
(To me, these are primarily useful and poetic metaphors. No literal belief in predictive astrology is required!)
I have some trouble thinking about the one before Osiris, though. The astrological age of Aries (approx 2000 BC to 1 BC/AD) covers much of the Iron Age. Much of the anthropological writing about a past age of matriarchy (Isis?) seems to cover the Bronze Age, which would be mostly aligned with Taurus (4000 to 2000 BC). Much of that writing is pretty dated, though...
Regarding the procession of officers in the "outer temple," I can't help but refer to the Z-1 paper and count up TWELVE people in the room during a proper Neophyte ceremony:
7 officers on the floor (Hierophant, Hiereus, Hegemon, Kerux, Stolistes, Dadouchos, Sentinel), 4 officers on the dais (Imperator, Cancellarius, Praemonstrator, and [at least one] Past Hierophant), plus 1 candidate!
Could the precession/procession of god-forms hinted at by Liber Legis (and pondered muchly here) be mapped onto both the 12 zodiacal signs and the 12 participants in the Outer Order?
@Redd Fezz said
" In your 70-90-some years in **this **life, how will knowledge of a 2,000 year Aeon benefit you?"
For me, it gives some sense of purpose to the present chaotic time period. I'm hopeful that Thelema and the age of Horus will continue being useful paradigms well into an upcoming technological "Singularity!"
Steve
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@Steven Cranmer said
"Bringing in the 12 astrological ages helps with some of this."
I think we need to very clearly differentiate the Aeons from the astrological ages. Example in point: The Aeon of Horus began March 20, 1904, still very deeply within the Pisces Age which runs from 221-2376 AD.
More broadly: The Aeon of Osiris easily ran across at least two astrological ages (all of Aries, most of Pisces, and probably included much of an earlier one (Taurus).
"The new "active" age of Horus being Aquarius/Leo; the last one being Pisces/Virgo (the Jesus fish born of a virgin) and so on."
Except we're still 370 years from the commencement of the Age of Aquarius (or, as you very correctly call it, the Age of Aquarius-Leo).
"7 officers on the floor (Hierophant, Hiereus, Hegemon, Kerux, Stolistes, Dadouchos, Sentinel), 4 officers on the dais (Imperator, Cancellarius, Praemonstrator, and [at least one] Past Hierophant), plus 1 candidate!"
Not counting the Past Hierophant (for reasons discussed earlier in the thread - seems more of an adoption from Freemasonry than something core to the deeper tradition), only six of these rotate. The Chiefs are "permanent" (so far as human variability goes, of course), and the Sentinel doesn't move in the progression - is simply appointed.
"Could the precession/procession of god-forms hinted at by Liber Legis (and pondered muchly here) be mapped onto both the 12 zodiacal signs and the 12 participants in the Outer Order?"
I always love the word "could" and would be interested in seeing where this develops.
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@Jim Eshelman said
"The Aeon of Horus began March 20, 1904, still very deeply within the Pisces Age which runs from 221-2376 AD."
Can I ask your source for these specific dates? There's a lot of "empty" space in the zodiac between the standard forms of the constellations. The modern astronomical borders between the constellations might not necessarily be the best to use for these purposes.
Has anyone computed the dates of equinox precession past the 12 "signs" as defined from Regulus = 0 degrees Leo? Was S.R.M.D. on to something, or might that be a dead end?
But I certainly see your general point. Did Aiwass have a reason to "jump the gun?"
"Not counting the Past Hierophant (for reasons discussed earlier in the thread - seems more of an adoption from Freemasonry than something core to the deeper tradition), only six of these rotate. The Chiefs are "permanent" (so far as human variability goes, of course), and the Sentinel doesn't move in the progression - is simply appointed."
Thanks for clarification. I guess this blows away my alternate theory of just FOUR processing entities (Hierophant, Hiereus, Hegemon, plus one other) that could have done a neat job of corresponding to the convoluted revolution of the Aces around the pole.
"I always love the word "could" and would be interested in seeing where this develops."
Always covering my bases!
Steve
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@Steven Cranmer said
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@Jim Eshelman said
"The Aeon of Horus began March 20, 1904, still very deeply within the Pisces Age which runs from 221-2376 AD."Can I ask your source for these specific dates? There's a lot of "empty" space in the zodiac between the standard forms of the constellations. The modern astronomical borders between the constellations might not necessarily be the best to use for these purposes."
Long answer for which I have no time to answer - but, simply put, the boundaries of the astrological zodiac haven't been in doubt for at least half a century, so it's a simple mathematical calculation. At the moment I am writing this, the Sidereal longitude of the Northern hemisphere vernal point is 5°10'08" Pisces.
PS - I gave the basic details in an article in Black Pearl Vol. II, No. 1 which, however, is not presently in print.
"But I certainly see your general point. Did Aiwass have a reason to "jump the gun?""
I don't think it's jumping the gun. I just don't think the Aeons have the slightest thing to do with the Astrological Ages.
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As above, so below. How could the aeons have nothing to do with the astrological significators? Just asking, not challenging.
In L.V.X.,
chrys333 -
I had an epiphany that now seems so obvious. When in BOTA they talk about purifying the desire nature, so the red rose turns to white, etc., then Desire=Will. So that that is what learning the True Will is, and that is why Do What Thou Wilt means, and Love under Will. The True Will is the Purified Desire.
I get it.
In L.V.X.,
chrys333 -
@Chris Hanlon said
"As above, so below. How could the aeons have nothing to do with the astrological significators? Just asking, not challenging."
I'd have to turn that around and ask: Why would they? They refer to substantially different kinds of phenomena.
Might as well ask how the stock market could have no effect on the rotation of the earth.
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@Chris Hanlon said
"I had an epiphany that now seems so obvious. When in BOTA they talk about purifying the desire nature, so the red rose turns to white, etc., then Desire=Will. So that that is what learning the True Will is, and that is why Do What Thou Wilt means, and Love under Will. The True Will is the Purified Desire.
I get it.
In L.V.X.,
chrys333"That's wha t I've been thinking, too. Did you get me recent email about Key 13? (to your gmail account)
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Nate.
I got the posting, and I believe I answered back. The twisting of the spine of the skeleton one, correct? Kundalini rising/desire nature, choices, etc.?
JAE,
Does astrology have significance, then? And what about the butterfly effect in chaos theory?
I understand what you mean - everything influcences everything, but there is not necessarily a 1 to 1 connection between phenomena (or even a 1 to 1 million).
Currrent astrology and the new Aeon may not coincide at all, but I guess I am set up to think there is a link, due to the story of the 3 Kings.
Thanks,
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@Chris Hanlon said
"Nate.
I got the posting, and I believe I answered back. The twisting of the spine of the skeleton one, correct? Kundalini rising/desire nature, choices, etc.?"Yep, I never got a response from you or Zeph. I figured you were on vacation or something... I'll pm you something better soon (and this weekend I am preparing a package to go out to you, also).
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@Jim Eshelman said
"I gave the basic details in an article in Black Pearl Vol. II, No. 1 which, however, is not presently in print."
I'll have to do some more research; thanks for the references and specific calculations. At the very least, I can take what you've given and map the boundaries onto the sky to see how well "centered" the traditional constellation-figures are on the boundaries.
For various reasons, I've had a soft spot for Mathers' Regulus-centric sidereal system, but I haven't done the above exercise there, either. If I get free time to do this, I could make some pretty plots for "Tools and Toys" perhaps.
"I just don't think the Aeons have the slightest thing to do with the Astrological Ages."
I guess I've always assumed that Crowley got at least some of his thinking on the Aeons from the astrological ages. Maybe this came second-hand from the Ben Rowe material (which does assume a tight link... but he also liked Achad's upside-down tree, too...)
Steve
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@Steven Cranmer said
"I'll have to do some more research; thanks for the references and specific calculations. At the very least, I can take what you've given and map the boundaries onto the sky to see how well "centered" the traditional constellation-figures are on the boundaries."
Remember that the usual definitions of the constellations are fairly modern. (I seriously suspect you know this!
So I mention it mostly for others.) The old Roman star charts are closer - but the Egyptian and Babalonian zodiacs evidently had rigorous 30° boundaries. One really striking example: Leo is one of the most obvious and visually-defined constellations in the sky, but much of the curve around the head falls across the boundary into Cancer. In the Denderah (ceiling) zodiac, this is shown by a goddess bearing a bow - the crescent shape of that arc of stars - at the very end of Cancer.In the first couple of millennia BC, Aldebaran marked exactly 15°00' Taurus, a minute from opposite Antars. Proper motion has now shifted Aldebaran about 3' IIRC. We don't hold that individual stars themselves define the astrological architecture of the universe. This basic alignment places Regulus at 5° Leo, Pleiades at 5° Taurus, Spica at 29° Virgo, etc. (In contrast, the most common and popular Indian zodiac uses Spica (Chitra) to define 0° Libra - but Alpha Virginis is clearly part of The Maiden, and the astro-archaeology holds up.)
"For various reasons, I've had a soft spot for Mathers' Regulus-centric sidereal system, but I haven't done the above exercise there, either. If I get free time to do this, I could make some pretty plots for "Tools and Toys" perhaps."
Always of interest.
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@Jim Eshelman said
"No, I don't know when Crowley first proposed the 3-Aeon model of Isis, Osiris, Horus. That is, I'd have to go back to the first decade or so after the reception of Liber L. and see where I could find it first mentioned. If anyone else finds early references, I'd be interested in seeing them, and it might be as early as one of the essays in his Collected Works."
I didn't find anything in the Collected Works. The oldest reference I've found comes from "Across the Gulf", in which Crowley provides a narrative of Ankh-f-na-khonsu at the exact transition between the Aeons of Isis and Osiris. That first appeared in the Equinox I.7, which came out in 1912. Curiously, Crowley says nothing of the aeons in his "Old Comment", which appeared in the same issue. So, perhaps the three-aeon system have developed sometime between the writing of the comment and the writing of "Across the Gulf".
On the other hand, Crowley hints at the existence of an old and a new aeon in Konx om Pax, from 1907. In "Ali Slopper", Crowly hints at himself, as Bowley, as being the prophet of a new religion that will last for 2000 years. Setting the number of years like that suggests the possibility that Crowley was already thinking of a sequence of aeons, each lasting for 2000 years. Though it doesn't actually provide any evidence of him developing the specific Isis-Osiris-Horus system.
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I don't understand much of these messages, the first one with the hierophants and so on it's just a huge puzzle for me, but none the less I think I can be of assistance.I'm not sure where Crowley first got the idea of the aeons, but it's not new. An eon is a by-product of Time, it is only natural to think in terms of cycles and "eternal recurrence" as Nietzsche has argumented in the past. All religions have some form of aeonic approach to history, due to the fact that any approach to the meaning or sense of Being inmediatly needs or provides a sense or meaning to History.
Aeons should not be, IMO, regarded as clean cut changes in the cultural atmosphere, as if from one day to the next everyone just "get's it" and that it's, is a rather complex process involving mainly "perspectives". For instance, the Aeon of Osiris, rather than being just "patriarchal" it's the aeon of Plato, in other words: A perspective from which there is THE "truth" and everything revolves around it, the philosopher or saint must, therefore, renounce his existence as false and change himself and the world in accordance to that metaphysical truth. It can be imagined as a heliocentric perspective, there is one and only sun, that is called "Being" or "God" or "Good", the rest are just planets around that sun, everything must exist or conform according to that concept, wether it's Plato's idea of "Good/Being" or the christian idea of providence and God, or the islamic notions of their theology.
The aeon of horus it's an expansion of conciousness, instead of there being only one star, there are millions, infinite number. The heliocentric view is "interiorized" so that the true will becomes that sun and each individual existence revolves around it.
This approach might be useful, at least it was useful to me.
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@asclepi said
"I'm not sure where Crowley first got the idea of the aeons, but it's not new."
I absolutely agree, though I don't think the idea of aeons is at all natural. I posted somewhere up above about other influences on the idea of aeonic histories. They were particularly popular among Enlightenment philosophers, including Condorcet, Adam Smith, and then, later, Karl Marx. Blavatsky took up this idea in an occult context before Crowley. So, I agree, it's not new. I don't mean to convey the idea that it's original with Crowley. I am primarily interested in when exactly he came up with it and where he first published it.
@asclepi said
"An eon is a by-product of Time, it is only natural to think in terms of cycles and "eternal recurrence" as Nietzsche has argumented in the past. All religions have some form of aeonic approach to history, due to the fact that any approach to the meaning or sense of Being inmediatly needs or provides a sense or meaning to History."
Nietzsche's "eternal recurrence" reflects his interest in a return to pagan values. The eternal return is a pagan approach to time and actually pretty foreign to most Westerners today. The Jedeo-Christian approach, on the other hand, is the linear and progressive sense of time that dominates today. I have been giving some thought as to where Thelema fits into this. I think, so far, that Thelema has more in common with a Christian sense of time and space than it does with the pagan sense. Crowley's aeonic scheme, like those of the earlier Enlightenment philosophers, is progressive and linear. It doesn't come back to the same place. Time keeps going forward and is a force of progress. It's also dialectical. The Aeon of Osiris is the antithesis of the Aeon of Isis. The Aeon of Horus is the synthesis to them. It will also act as the thesis to the antithetical Aeon of Maat.
The most important commonality between Christianity and Thelema is that time and history takes place outside of humanity. In the Bible, God creates the world and starts time. He will then end time. In Thelema, the aeons pass acccording to the Equinox of the Gods. It happens on a cosmic scale well beyond the scale of the human. Humans are not the primary agents of historical transformation. We're along for the ride and might as well conform to each passing aeon. In paganism, on the other hand, humans are the primary force in historical transformation.
Note: I'm still working this out. I have some doubts about the progressive nature of time in Thelema. I suspect it is a progressive conception, but maybe not in the way I'm thinking.