Star Ruby
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The Star Ruby is a banishing ritual. That's it.
Crowley mentions in Magick in Theory & Practice (I have no idea when, but have read it dozens of times over the decades) that this is its specific purpose.
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cool thanks, thats what i thought to but others had told me its more. someone even told me how he thouhgt it was like walking up to the abyss.
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In a way that is correct. The NOX signs employed in the Star Ruby trace a path up the Tree of Life that crosses the Abyss.
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A question about the NOX signs.
During the Star Ruby the magician is instructed to give the signs of NOX while vibrating IO PAN. Ok, that's clear enough. But what exactly are the individual signs supposed to evoke within the magician? What exactly should the magician be focusing on or bringing to mind as he/she vibrates IO PAN and gives the signs?
For example, when making the elemental grade signs your focus is on the particular element you are indentifying with. So in the case of the NOX signs, what is the magician trying to indentify or bring to mind when making each of the signs?
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Note: I am not officially studying Star Ruby. And not performing either, unofficially.
From what I've seen of the ritual performed, and since performing it myself on occasion (you know; monkey see,monkey do), it seems to me there are two distinct 'voices' during the Paean. Although there are several signs (I refer to the NOX signs), I saw a duality identified by Io, and Pan. Io the feminine, Pan the masculine. Io calls Pan forth, Pan 'goes.'
This is an advanced ritual, and one I'm not really ready to practice.
But theoretically, what's the purpose of the Paean? It seems to me that there is an invoking (maybe I'm using the wrong word to define what I mean) of a sort that goes on when using the NOX signs?
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@Her said
"During the Star Ruby the magician is instructed to give the signs of NOX while vibrating IO PAN. Ok, that's clear enough. But what exactly are the individual signs supposed to evoke within the magician? What exactly should the magician be focusing on or bringing to mind as he/she vibrates IO PAN and gives the signs?"
Because you put this in terms of "should," I think the only ethical answer is to refer you to Crowley's commentary to the ritual in his expanded notes to The Book of Lies - "It would be improper to comment further upon an official ritual of the A.'.A.'.."
I have no problem commenting on it per se - I've written extensively about it - but in this particular case, I am very, very wary of any "should." This is one where I think you need to discover that for yourself. The signs in question are the signs of 6=5, 7=4, 7=4 Maj., and 8=3 of A.'.A.'. - but this ritual is first on the syllabus of hte Probationer. I'm quite sure that there was no expectation that they trigger the consciousness of 6=5 through 8=3 in the Probationer! Therefore, I'm left with the conviction that the correct approach is to see what, in fact, they raise in you and to record the results - that, after all, is the one primary practice of the Probationer: Do practices for a year, record the results, make assessments.
"For example, when making the elemental grade signs your focus is on the particular element you are indentifying with. So in the case of the NOX signs, what is the magician trying to indentify or bring to mind when making each of the signs?"
Not elemental. See above for my best answer.
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@Draco Magnus said
"But theoretically, what's the purpose of the Paean? It seems to me that there is an invoking (maybe I'm using the wrong word to define what I mean) of a sort that goes on when using the NOX signs?"
"Pan" is the Greek word for "All." Pan is The All. Crowley also had the direct experience of Pan as the representation of "what he got" in emerging just beyond the Abyss. In the ceremony, the words are chanted immediately after the 7=4 Maj. (i.e., Babe of the Abyss) signs and immediately before the 8=3 sign, so it would appear to be attempting to replicate his experience.
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@Jim Eshelman said
"This is one where I think you need to discover that for yourself."
Actually that's exactly what I thought you would say.
But I thought I would try my luck anyway. As they say, "If you don't ask, you don't get". 
I will follow the Method of Science then and see what happens over an extended period of time. And assuming that the signs are not completely arbitary it leads nicely into Crowley's statement in Liber O: "By doing certain things certain results will follow".
I have two more questions about the Star Ruby.
Although it's not specified in the ritual instructions what is your personal opinion on turning to the appropriate quarters, as per Reguli, when performing the NOX signs? Some people suggest doing this (and I practice it this way), while others insist that the signs should all be made facing east.
The second question is a little difficult because I'm not quite sure how to put it.
Ok it's like this. Basically isn't there a kind of conflict of interests between the Star Ruby and the LBRP. The attributions and the natures of the guardians are totally different in each ritual. So whould it be better not to practice these two rituals during the same practice period. Because the LBRP is already an established part of my ritual practice I was thinking of opening a practice session with either the Star Ruby or the LBRP and then closing a practice with the opposite. I thought this would be a good way to include it in my current ritual routine but I have been told not to mix the two rituals in one practice session. I should either open and close with the LBRP or the Star Ruby, but to include them both in the same practice session would be confusing?What's your personal opinion on this. Apart from telling me to resort to the Method of Science.
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@Her said
"Although it's not specified in the ritual instructions what is your personal opinion on turning to the appropriate quarters, as per Reguli, when performing the NOX signs? Some people suggest doing this (and I practice it this way), while others insist that the signs should all be made facing east. "
We know exactly how that was to be performed, and that's not part of it. (Isn't this, by now general information?
)"Ok it's like this. Basically isn't there a kind of conflict of interests between the Star Ruby and the LBRP. The attributions and the natures of the guardians are totally different in each ritual. So whould it be better not to practice these two rituals during the same practice period."
Yeah. Don't mix them. They're different universes.
"Because the LBRP is already an established part of my ritual practice I was thinking of opening a practice session with either the Star Ruby or the LBRP and then closing a practice with the opposite."
(Let's see, how can I put this?)
I wouldn't.
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i personally see the signs of NOX creating the word YHShVH, and i see it as the father and mother are united as well as son and daughter and through this you become impregnated with a child RHK.
what do you think of this, am i way way off??
also i feel right after i do the final NOX sign, like i am completely on another level. like the whole ritual is building me spiritually up and up then after that NOX sign i am push over to the next level. the best way i can explain it is like this:
the 1st cross is like malkuth, then the 4 pentagrams and visualizations of the guardians is like building me up to tiphareth, then the signs build me up to the abyss, as soon as i do the final NOX sign i cross the abyss and i am in a who other level, and it is such a bigger change then all the other events in the ritual. when i am doing the "pro mou.." i feel like i am in the valley of the pyrimids, and with nuit.
of course all this is all symbolic and i dont think i am completing all these AA grades and getting the expereience of them, i just feel its kinda symbolic of all this, just on a much much much smaller level. if this makes since at all?
basically i feel myself climbing up the tree within my present sephiroth.
do you think i should not be seeing it this way, and just look at it as a plain and simple banishing ritual? i mean i see it as banishing, but i also see it as symbolis for spiritual experiences i hope to one day have.
thanks
93s
Gunner
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@Jim Eshelman said
"We know exactly how that was to be performed, and that's not part of it. (Isn't this, by now general information?
)"You're kidding me, right?
Every last detail of the Star Ruby and it's correct performance may well be "general information" within the confines of certain magical orders. But for the unwashed masses there is nothing on or about this ritual at all. You basically have Crowley saying zip in the Book of Lies and a single comment in MTP. And that's it!!!!It's not a surprise that so few people practice this ritual. Because no one has a clue what it's about.
@Jim Eshelman said
"Yeah. Don't mix them. They're different universes."
So I guess I've got to ask, what's the point of this ritual if it can't play with all the other kids?
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Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
Details were published in Black Pearl No. 5 (first part of a three-part series on The Star Ruby). I believe the part you are asking about is the following (done facing East after you've returned to the center) - the parts in bold are said:
"The exact ritual method is as follows. Say:
N. (give the Sign of Puer, 6=5, corresponding to Geburah)
O. (give the Sign of Vir, 7=4, corresponding to Chesed)
(With a brief pause of silence, give the Sign of Puella = the first sign of the Babe of the Abyss)
X. (give the Sign of Mulier = the second sign of the Babe of the Abyss)
NOX â IO PAN (Give the Sign of Mater Triumphans, 8=3, corresponding to Binah)" -
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Thanks Jim. That's very helpful.
It looks I've been doing it wrong all this time. No surprises there. That's what happens sometimes when your flying alone in the dark.
A while ago I was told, in no uncertain terms by a member of the O.T.O, that the correct order of the signs was Puella, Puer, Vir, Mulier, Mater Triumphans. Obviously not.
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@Her said
"A while ago I was told, in no uncertain terms by a member of the O.T.O, that the correct order of the signs was Puella, Puer, Vir, Mulier, Mater Triumphans. Obviously not.
"And exactly why would their membership in O.T.O. give them any particular knowledge on the subject? Hmm?
You're welcome.
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@Jim Eshelman said
"And exactly why would their membership in O.T.O. give them any particular knowledge on the subject? Hmm?"
Well the argument was that they had access to inside information that I did not. It's a little hard to argue against that one.
This is where I have become a little frustrated. Crowley's comments on many of his rituals are so sparse that a lot of the information "out there" is nothing more than personal interpretation. For example, Lon Milo DuQuette in his book The Magick of Thelema (reprinted as the Magick of Aleister Crowley) says that the NOX signs used in the Star Ruby does not include the sign Mater Triumphans. He's supposedly been doing this stuff since the 70's and is considered to be something of an authority.!!! So if he's clueless, what hope does anyone else have?
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@Her said
"Well the argument was that they had access to inside information that I did not. It's a little hard to argue against that one.
"It doesn't even match the "inside information" the O.T.O. published from its archives a few years ago. See more below.
"This is where I have become a little frustrated. Crowley's comments on many of his rituals are so sparse that a lot of the information "out there" is nothing more than personal interpretation."
Having devoted several decades of my life thus far to making this sort of information available through one or another medium, I'm occasionally hard pressed to be sympathetic because we have explicit channels for training. This sort of thing is communicated through formal training structures in more than one Order (in addition to the public classes, publishing, etc. I've done over the years). My (possibly insufficiently sympathetic) answer is that this sort of thing was never intended to be taught through books but, rather, as part of formal paths of initiation.
FWIW, Star Ruby isn't part of the formal instruction in Temple of Thelema's First Order or even the earliest part of its Second Order. It will be seen from time to time, but has nothing to do with the training structure until pretty far along. On the other hand, my three-part article on Star Ruby was made available to anyone at all through Black Pearl beginning in 1999, so we aren't hording the information.
Moral of the story: Submit an application and go through the training step by step!
(Or, hang out here and ask questions.)Now, concerning the "inside information" available to your acquaintance: In the O.T.O.'s edition of Book 4, a letter is quoted from Crowley to C.S. Jones from December 1916. It pertains slightly more to the Star Sapphire than to the Star Ruby (hence a minor language difference), but the core instruction is there. He wrote:
"The 6=5 [i.e., Puer] is the N. 7=4 [i.e., Vir] O. Puella is a hesitation in between. Babalon [i.e., Mulier] is the X. After giving it say N.O.X., Nox, the night of Pan! Close with 8=3 sign [Mater Triumphans]."
Since the Star Ruby script specifically says the paian is "Io Pan," this substitutes for the "N.O.X., the night of Pan!" of the Star Sapphire.
BTW - FWIW - though this wasn't published until 1994, and though I never had (nor had knowledge of) that letter, a T.'.O.'.T.'. instruction for the 7° gave this same exact information by 1991-92. Any conclusions about that are left to you.
Regarding how many signs are used in the middle: Note that the Star Ruby - Liber XXV - consists of 5 parts, each of which has 5 parts provided that 5 signs are used in the middle.
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@Jim Eshelman said
"It doesn't even match the "inside information" the O.T.O. published from its archives a few years ago."
This is the whole point. There are so many "supposed" authorities out there with different opinions on this subject and many others. And each one of them is correct of course!
The would be student may as well just flip a coin when choosing between them.@Jim Eshelman said
"I'm occasionally hard pressed to be sympathetic"
I wasn't looking for sympathy Jim or expecting to get any either. Roll with the punches huh?
@Jim Eshelman said
" Moral of the story: Submit an application and go through the training step by step!
(Or, hang out here and ask questions.)"Thanks for the moral Jim. I guess my current incarnation is a complete waste of time.
I might as well kill myself now and hope and pray that I have the good fortune to be reincarnated in the vacinity of a branch of the Temple of Thelema in the near future. (I'm located in the UK by the way. Which is obviously part of my bad karma. )Pardon the sarcasm Jim. I have a bit of a sense of humour.
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by the way on this HERU::
"Lon Milo DuQuette in his book The Magick of Thelema (reprinted as the Magick of Aleister Crowley) says that the NOX signs used in the Star Ruby does not include the sign Mater Triumphans. He's supposedly been doing this stuff since the 70's and is considered to be something of an authority.!!! So if he's clueless, what hope does anyone else have? "
i asked lon about this about a year ago, why isnt mater triumphans included in star ruby, he said on its just a misprint. i said and how many times has this book been reprinted with out corrections, he quickly changed the subject.
i did star ruby for like 2 years before being corrected, and thats acually kinda a funny story too. i was at an OTO meeting where the electorial college president was there and offered to banish, and later he asked me when we were talking why i didnt do mater triumphans. and i was like what where does it say that is apart of the ritual?
though i love duquettes writings, you should study crowleys works much more than his.
93s
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@bethata418 said
"i asked lon about this about a year ago, why isnt mater triumphans included in star ruby, he said on its just a misprint."
Actually I think that's how the Star Ruby was being taught by a number of people back in the early 90's and quite possibly earlier. See Gerald del Campo's book, New Aeon Magick,(published 1994) where he treats the Star Ruby in exactly the same manner as DuQuette.
I should also add that Gerald del Campo's book was republished by Luxor Press in 2000. In this newer, corrected, expanded, and revised edition the Star Ruby has remained the same as it was in the 1994 edition.
@bethata418 said
"though i love duquettes writings, you should study crowleys works much more than his."
Quite correct. But I would assume that both DuQuette and Campo studied Crowley's works too and yet they still came to an "apparently" incorrect conclusion. Draw your own conclusions from that. Being one of the "profane" it would be improper for me to comment further.
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understand but duquette saud there was nothign to it, just a simple mistake:(
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Gunner