Star Ruby
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I spoke (partly) in error - some of the language was migrated in the MT&P version, but not all. (That was the point of part of what I wrote.)
I'll try to get some or all of my Star Ruby Part III posted here. Equinox is approaching rapidly, though, and there is a great deal to do this time of year (including a new Hierophant to ordain and one new Chief to install - its going to be a very exciting Equinox).
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The Star Ruby - An Analysis
(Part 3 of 3)
by Fra. A.H.From Black Pearl, Vol. I, No. 8
Copyright College of Thelema, all rights reserved.Thus far, we have only explored the original version of The Star Ruby, published in The Book of Lies. A later version appeared in Magick in Theory & Practice. For the sake of completeness, we need to address it.
Primarily, the only outer difference between the two versions is a substitution of new Divine Names at the Quarters. Examined more closely, though, we find that these introduce a new theory of the ritual, for they alter the symbolic character ascribed by The Star Ruby to each Quarter.
Readers will remember, from Part 1 of this article, that the sequence of the Elements in the Book of Lies version conforms to the “Macrocosmic scheme” used within the Vault of the Second Order of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn; that is, at a symbolic stage corresponding to “Tiphereth within.” These are: East = Fire, North = Water, West = Air, and South = Earth. When traversed widdershins from the East, they trace a sequence corresponding to the letters Y.H.V.H.
All of this changed in the version that appeared in Magick in Theory & Practice. But the new version had some bugs in it. We submit it was a “work in progress,” a revision in evolution that may never have been fully completed by Crowley.
THE GOD LETTERS
Throughout the early 1920s, Aleister Crowley experimented with the effects of various sounds on consciousness. He would sit for long periods of meditation uttering the sound of one particular letter, noting its distinctive effect. He may have been inspired in this by the passage in Sepher Yetzirah, Cap. II, v. 3:
"Twenty-two Foundation Letters: He engraved them by voice and carved them with breath. He placed them in the mouth in five places: Aleph, Cheth, Heh, A’ayin in the throat; Gimel, Kaph, Yod, Qoph in the palate; Daleth, Teth, Lamed, Nun, Tav in the tongue; Zayin, Samekh, Shin, Resh, Tzaddi in the teeth; and Vav, Meym, Peh in the lips."
Some of his views on this topic, summarized more than 20 years later, appeared as a discussion of the “God-Letters” in Magick Without Tears. Along the way, he experimented with the possibility that certain families of sounds are related to the Four Quarters of the Magick Circle.
All of this can be studied in his published diaries of the period. The evolution of his views over time is most interesting to witness.
One of his conclusions was that sounds arising primarily from the use of “tongue and teeth” (palatals and dentals) are masculine, and those arising primarily from “lips and throat” (labials and gutturals) are feminine. The anatomical basis of this should be self-evident to the reader. Crowley had learned decades earlier, from the writings of Fabre d’Olivet, that a series of mythological names derived from the N sound (On, Oannes, Ioannes, John, Jonah, Noah, Nu, Anu, Dianus, Diana, etc.) were traditionally related to Water and the North, even as a series of sounds depending on a vocalized D or T sound, with or without an S or Sh (Adonai, Adam, Atys, Set, Satan, Saturn, Sat, Sad, Had, Adad, etc.), shared a common relationship to the South and to Fire. A brief summary of this point of view can be found in the Master Therion’s “New Comment” to the early verses of Chapter I of Liber Legis. Adding the results of his investigations of various sounds, he decided to retain that pattern, and to add a stronger dental sound to the East (establishing the East and South as the two primary “masculine” directions), and a labial sound to the West (confirming the West and North as the two primary “feminine” directions).
Based on this scheme, he then attributed the name Therion to the East, Hadit to the South, Babalon to the West, and Nuit to the North.
Notice that these attributions were based purely on sound, not on elemental attributions. Or, to the extent that there were elemental attributions considered, the initial work of d’Olivet (which Crowley preserved and reinforced in various writings and ceremonies, both published and unpublished) would have attributed Fire to the South, and Water to the North. This should have left an attribution of Air to the East, and Earth to the West – Therion to Vav, and the Sphere of the Sun, and Babalon to the final Heh, and the Kingdom of Earth.
However, this does not appear to be what Crowley did. Someplace along the way, he diverged from these principles. This apparent divergence was likely the result of his Star Ruby revision being a work in progress, and never a finished product.
CLUES FROM LIBER REGULI?
Alongside The Star Ruby in Magick in Theory & Practice, Crowley also published Liber Reguli. Liber Reguli attributes the same Divine Names to the Quarters as does the revised Star Ruby. However, in appended commentary to Liber Reguli, Crowley elaborated more on what he was introducing. He quite explicitly attributed Earth to the East, Air to the North, Water to the West, and Fire to the South.
If these elements are applied to The Star Ruby, two things will be noticed. First, although the physical motions of the ritual are identical to those in the Book of Lies version, the elemental attributions are in exactly the opposite sequence. That is, instead of Fire-Water-Air-Earth they are Earth-Air-Water-Fire, an ‘ascent’ of the Four Elements instead of a ‘descent.’ Second, although the Magick in Theory & Practice pattern preserves Fabret d’Olivet’s attribution of Fire to the South, it totally neglects his linking of Water to the North. Is this a problem? Yes it is, since Crowley thereafter persevered both in accepting d’Olivet’s work, and in attributing the name Nuit and Water to the North, as the direct result of d’Olivet’s research.
Something was off!
EDITORIAL EMENDATIONS
Further information, to help us see the confusion more clearly (the better to cut through it!), may be found in the footnotes of Magick: Book 4, edited by Frater Hymenæus Beta (Weiser, New York, 1994). Through editorial notes, Fra. H.B. has enabled us to trace much of the evolution of Crowley’s thoughts through successive revisions of the Magick in Theory & Practice manuscript. Concerning the modes of vibration of the Divine Names of each Quarter, notes 430 through 433 allow us to trace the following history.
In The Book of Lies version of The Star Ruby, we find the following instructions at each Quarter:
"East: “roar CHAOS” – Leo
North: “scream BABALON” – Scorpio
West: “say EROS” – Aquarius
South: “bellow PSYCHE” - Taurus"The relation of the words “roar, scream, say, bellow” to the four Kerubim (or elemental wardens) was thoroughly discussed in Part 1 of this article in **BLACK PEARL **No. 5. It is important to understanding what follows that you be thoroughly familiar with these correspondences. They are based on the Kerubic attributions that Crowley first learned in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, of the Lion to Fire, the Bull to Earth, the Eagle to Water, and the Man to Aquarius.
The Book of Lies language was preserved through the second typescript of Magick in Theory & Practice (TS2). Then, Crowley made the following editorial emendations to TS2:
"East: “roar THERION”
North: “say NUIT”
West: “hisses BABALON”
South: “bellow HADIT”"The name changes are clear. He has substituted the four names from the Thelemic Pantheon that were discussed earlier. However, the prescribed vocalization characteristics give us a very different picture than would the attributions of the Elements to the Quarters given in Liber Reguli! By “roar” and “bellow,” we would still expect Fire and Earth to be attributed to East and South, respectively. Yet, despite this variance, we cannot seriously consider the possibility that Crowley had ignored or forgotten his original code, for he specifically moved the word “say” (Man = Air) from the West to the North – exactly where he moved the element of Air. Furthermore, the use of the word “hisses” in the West is unmistakably related to the ophidian aspect of Scorpio – no longer the “screaming” Eagle. (In the final version he changed this word to “whisper;” but the shifting pattern was clearly established.)
The simplest explanation of all of this is that, in writing his corrections for the next typescript, he simply forgot to switch the words “roar” and “bellow” which, therefore, were left exactly as in the original Book of Lies (and MT&P TS2) form.
The existence of several revisions in the Star Ruby manuscript versions, along with the precise and persistent use of his original code in some places and its neglect in others, leads us to the conclusion that Crowley “had not worked out all of the bugs” by the time he went to press. Hence our view that this was an unfinished revision, a work in progress. At the very least, it suffered from the insufficient proofreading which is every editor and publisher’s nightmare!
WITH A BELLOW & ROAR
If we are to use the fruitful parts of this revision, we are left with two apparent solutions to its architectural problems:
First approach: If we accept the attributions of the vocalization characteristics to the Quarters, and hence the names as given, then we must shift the elemental attributions. To the South and the Name Hadit we would attribute Fire (Yod, Leo), and to the North and the Name Nuit we would attribute Water (Heh, Scorpio), just as was originally theorized based on d’Olivet’s work. Then, we would fill out the pattern by attributing to the East the Name Therion and the Element Air (Vav, Aquarius); and to the West, the Name Babalon and the Element Earth (Heh-final, Taurus). The vocalization prescriptions would then be reattributed accordingly. The resulting arrangement is, curiously, that of the officer distributions in the First Order of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (see the G.D. Neophyte ritual in various standard references), and also a known formula for assigning the Elements based on distributing the letters of AHYH, Eheyeh, on the arms of a cross.
Second approach: Preserve both the Names and the Elements to the Quarters suggested by the revision – Earth, Air, Water, Fire, clockwise beginning in the East – but rearrange all of the associated symbolism as well by simply swapping “bellow” and “roar.” Bellow “Therion” in the East, say “Nuit” in the North, whisper or hiss Babalon in the West, and roar Hadit in the South. This conforms to the simplest interpretation of the revision manuscript evidence: that Crowley simply missed reversing the words “bellow” and “roar” during his editing of the manuscript.
This last point may seem a small change; but it removes a very substantial symbolic confusion from the ritual, and returns a symbolic integrity to the rite, where previously there was none.
This second adaptation of the Magick in Theory & Practice revision would then be quite suitable for First Order members – those who have not yet attained the Grade of Tiphereth and begun naturally working with the Macrocosmic Formulæ on which the first version of The Star Ruby is founded. The primary formulary change (in comparison to the symbolic pattern described in Part 1) is in the reversal of the sequence of the Four Elements, so that they represent an ascent, rather than a descent, of the Elemental sephiroth below Tiphereth. The pattern of the ritual then corresponds to an entirely different formula, as follows:
"(0) Harpocrates and Apo pantos kakodaimonos: The “Zero Formula” which precedes the Elemental steps.
(1) Qabalistic Cross: Formulation of the Tree of Life: an expression of the aspiration to go on.
(2) The Pentagrams: Earth, Air, Water, Fire = Malkuth, Yesod, Hod, Netzach.
(3) Return to the Center: Tiphereth. The N.O.X. Signs: Geburah, Chesed, Da’ath, Binah.
(4) Setting the Guardians: Briatic Wardens of the Quarters.
(5) Qabalistic Cross: Confirm the flowing forth of L.V.X. through the entire Tree of Life.
(0) Harpocrates and Apo, etc.: Either a dissolution into the ZERO beyond the Supernals; or a return and recentering into oneself back at the beginning."
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Thank you very much Jim!
I think in one fell swoop you have managed to answer nearly every single question I have ever had about the Star Ruby!I was particularly struck by your explanation of the order of the elements as representing either an ascent or a descent through the elemental sephiroth. It completely answers my previous question about the position of the guardians. There is no need to change their positions because in both versions of the Star Ruby the act of returning to the centre of the circle represents the placement of the magician at Tiphareth. Neat.
This may be an incorrect assesment but to me now the MTP Star Ruby looks like it perfectly spans the gap between the traditional micro-cosmic Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram and the macro-cosmic Star Ruby in the Book of Lies.
Your suggestion that the vocalisations for Earth and Fire be switched makes perfect sense too. I had previously thought of this but hesitated just in case Crowley was trying to make some sort of connection between the name Therion and the Lion symbolism. But of course this falls down under closer inspection because there is no real connection, as far as I know, between the Bull and Hadit.
I do have one small question left.
Where did Crowley get the idea of projecting pentagrams instead of drawing them? The only other place I have seen this idea is in the Aurum Solis's Setting of the Wards of Power ritual. I believe that the A.S. was founded in 1897 so is it possible that Crowley knew of their techniques? -
The A.S. technique is modern and was copied from the published Star Ruby.
I dunno when he got the idea - probably a natural evoloution from the Sign of the Enterer formulae he learned in R.R. et A.C.
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I've been following this thread for awhile now and a question occurs. With all the diffrent attributions of the elements to tha various quarters, I wonder: being that there are sixteen possible permutations, are there (at least theoretically) sixteen different formulae to be derived therefrom?
Dan
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@Jim Eshelman said
"The A.S. technique is modern and was copied from the published Star Ruby."
I've suspected that the whole A.S. is similarly "modern." Their use of the Middle Pillar technique just reeks of borrowing from Regardie. Their threefold set of "Sub Rosa Nigra" deities also seems quite derivative of Nuit, Hadit, and Ra-Hoor-Khuit.
Don't get me wrong, though. A lot of the Aurum Solis material is quite sublime and can certainly be a genuine Path. Their insights into Enochian are (for me, a non-practitioner) uniquely valuable. I also like all the sonorous Greek and Latin!
But that whole 1897 origin-story is hard to believe. Just contrast it with the similarly "secret" Golden Dawn, which couldn't have made more of a "footprint" in contemporary writings if it tried!
Hope I'm neither being too incendiary nor just stating the bleedin' obvious.
Steve
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@Steven Cranmer said
"Their threefold set of "Sub Rosa Nigra" deities also seems quite derivative of Nuit, Hadit, and Ra-Hoor-Khuit."
Their history lections speak of the formulation of their Constellation of the Worship as a critical step in the emergence of the Order itself, in the late 19th Century, from its predecessor philosophical society. I strongly suspect that Melita Denning had a strong hand in evolving it in more modern times, but I do believe the C.o.t.W. itself, in its basic elements, is over a hundred years old.
"But that whole 1897 origin-story is hard to believe. Just contrast it with the similarly "secret" Golden Dawn, which couldn't have made more of a "footprint" in contemporary writings if it tried!"
I've had no reason to doubt it. (Notice that this isn't the same as vouching for it.) They touch enough things known to me that I have taken them at their word.
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Jim, do you know where Regardie got the strange version of the Star Ruby that he printed in Gems from the Equinox? Looking at it, it seems to be another one of those "work in progress" versions that you have mentioned before. Did Regardie print an earlier draft or something?
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@Her said
"Jim, do you know where Regardie got the strange version of the Star Ruby that he printed in Gems from the Equinox? Looking at it, it seems to be another one of those "work in progress" versions that you have mentioned before. Did Regardie print an earlier draft or something?"
I don't have a copy where I am to look, but... I think he simply consolidated the two published versions.
I once asked him why Reguli was in Gems since it wasn't in The Equinox, and he told me that it was really more "Gems From the Old Man" than "Gems From the Equinox" literally - and (I'm going from roughly 25 year old memories) I think Star Ruby was an edited composite for the purpose of Gems. (It was an edited anthology, after all.)
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Jim,
Is there any way I could order copies of those issues of the periodicals you were talking about? I would like to use them in my Thelema study group to help us study the ritual.Danke,
Kenneth -
@Jim Eshelman said
"The A.S. technique is modern and was copied from the published Star Ruby."
Dear Jim
Can you tell me how you arrive at this conclusion? You sound very certain so I presume this is more than speculation?
Ta Mo
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Another question, I learned Classical Greek many moons (okay, decades) ago and with it the pronunciation. But we have a Greek member of our lodge who pronounces the Greek the modern way - e.g. upsilon before a consonant is pronounced as an "f". Thus EUCHARISTOS is "effkaristos". Given that this way of pronouncing Greek is as the Greeks do in this New Aeon - well - any thoughts?
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@TaM said
"
@Jim Eshelman said
"The A.S. technique is modern and was copied from the published Star Ruby."Can you tell me how you arrive at this conclusion? You sound very certain so I presume this is more than speculation?"
I was told by people inside the A.S. who were in a place to know for sure.
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@sethur said
"Another question, I learned Classical Greek many moons (okay, decades) ago and with it the pronunciation. But we have a Greek member of our lodge who pronounces the Greek the modern way - e.g. upsilon before a consonant is pronounced as an "f". Thus EUCHARISTOS is "effkaristos". Given that this way of pronouncing Greek is as the Greeks do in this New Aeon - well - any thoughts?"
I think your approach is exactly on target and to use modern for this is plain silly.
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me babbling again.
a misunderstood ritual is worthless.
unless the symbolism can be clarified, and the order determined, why bother?
LRP works fine for me.
hell, a self made ritual would be better, and would work. -
@Jim Eshelman said
"
@TaM said
"
@Jim Eshelman said
"The A.S. technique is modern and was copied from the published Star Ruby."Can you tell me how you arrive at this conclusion? You sound very certain so I presume this is more than speculation?"
I was told by people inside the A.S. who were in a place to know for sure."
Thankyou for that elaboration (do you prefer "Jim"?)
If I could trouble you further, can you tell me (or direct me to any relevant information) that gives any other indication of Thelemic, or Crowley's, influence in the Aurum Solis?
Ta Mo
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Read the Denning & Phillips 5 volume main series and you'll see various references to his work.
I woulodn't say he had a direct influence. I'd say that various people over the years have drawn on his published work in their own innovations for the Order.
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@Jim Eshelman said
"Read the Denning & Phillips 5 volume main series and you'll see various references to his work.
I woulodn't say he had a direct influence. I'd say that various people over the years have drawn on his published work in their own innovations for the Order."
I'm familiar with those references. They also suggest The Holy Books as valuable reading within their tradition. I've just never seen anything or anyone suggesting quite so significant an influence as what we were discussing regarding the technical development of Aurum Solis' Setting of the Wards.
But certainly, if there have been "refurbishings" of the Order's materiel, then it would be difficult to leave out Crowley's and Regardie's innovations.
Thanks
TaMo
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93 to All.
Just a brief commentary on the star ruby that I found informational.
Enjoy:-)
An Analysis of the Star Ruby Ritual
No later than 1913, when The Book of lies was published, Aleister Crowley had written what he termed "a new and more elaborate version of the Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram... an official ritual of the A.'.A.'.." Later, during the Cefalu period when Magick in Theory and Practice was written, he modified this ritual, called it the "Star Ruby", to bring it more into conformity with other strongly Thelemic rituals such as Liber Reguli. Both versions are given on the preceding pages [excluded here, ed.] Despite the apparent importance of this ritual (and the Star Sapphire, "the real and perfect Ritual of the Hexagram"), little attention seems to have been paid to it in the years since.
Part of this has to do with obscurities in the ritual, such as what have long appeared to be archangelic names (Junges, Sunoches, Teletarchae, and the more recognizable Daimones) whose origins and symbolism were never clearly stated by A.C. The key to these names has been found through recent scolarship and qabalistic analysis.
Many students have suspected that this revamping of the standard Pentagram Ritual was (along with the Star Sapphire) part of a grand joke on his readers which Crowley claims to have perpetuated while writing The Book of Lies. Therefore, let's take a moment and demonstrate the Beast's sincere opinion on the importance of this ritual.
First, in Magick in Theory and Practice, Chapter 13, "Of the Banishings: And of the Purifications", we read: "It is usually sufficient to perform a general banishing, and to rely upon the aid of the guardians invoked. Let the banishings therefore be short, but in no wise slurred - for it is useful as it tends to produce the proper attitude of mind for the invocations. 'The Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram' (as now rewritten, Liber 333, Chapter XXV) is the best to use." Liber 333 is The Book of Lies, and Chapter XXV is the Star Ruby.
Another source of information is not generally available to students. During his Cefalu period, in the 1920s, Crowley chartered a magical order called The Order of Thelemites, under the imperatorship of Fra. Semper Paratum (James Thomas Windram), 6=5 A.'.A.'.. This order, not to be confused with a certain "Order of Thelema", was primarily based on the lines of the A.'.A.'.. The constitution of the order is available to us. In assigning practices to the grades of this order, To Mega Therion wrote that all members of the order "shall use the daily invocations given Liber CC, the Rituals of Liber XXV, Liber XXXVI, and Liber XLIV, and Will before meat, as taught them in their initiation."
Besides Will and Liber Resh (Liber CC), he was assigning the use of the Star Ruby (Liber XXV), the Star Sapphire (Liber XXVI), and the Mass of the Phoenix (Liber XLIV). At least during the '20s, we can then reasonably assume that Therion considered these among the most important practices for students of Thelemic magick - of any grade.
The remainder of this article is an analysis of the elements of this ritual, particularly qabalistically as suggested in Crowley's Book of Lies note quoted above. In particular, we've emphasized the section where"the guardians invoked" are mentioned. This was an exciting adventure for us as it required gaining familiarity with a philosophy and magical terminology we had not previously explored.The Cross Qabalistic
Notice that the basic form of the Star Ruby is essentially the same as that of the more familiar Lesser Pentagram Ritual. There is a Qabalistic Cross at the beginning and end which establishes the Tree of Life in the Magical Body of the Magician. Between the opening and closing there is the placing of the pentagrams at each of the four quarters, charging them with Divine Names; and the invoking, again at the quarters, of some sort of magical guardians. The traditional four parts of the Pentagram Ritual are joined in the Star Ruby by a fifth (just as there are five points to the pentagram). The fifth portion, dropped into the middle of the ritual even as Shin descends upon the center of Tetragrammaton, might be termed the Summons of the Supernals, and is the invocation of the Night of Pan (more on this below).
In the familiar pentagram ritual, the Qabalistic Cross consists of vertical and horizontal bars (see Liber O). In formulating these balanced currents within himself or herself, the magician vibrates the words: ATEH, MALKUTH, ve-GEBURAH, ve-GEDULAH; that is, "Thou art (ATEH) the Kingdom (MALKUTH), and the Strength (ve-GEBURAH), and the Majesty (ve-GEDULAH = Chesed). This then is sealed with the words L'OLAM, difficult to translate, meaning variously "time immemorial", "time past", "eternity", "distant future", "everlasting time"; that is "throughout the entire range of the arbitrary dimension called time"; or, as a declaration, "As it was, is, and shall be".
The Qabalistic Cross in the Star Ruby is fundamentally the same. The cross itself is drawn with the same motions, but with the words, SOI, O PHALLE, ISChUROS, EUChARISTOS, IAO.
SOI, (SOI) means "Unto Thee". This is an address to the Most High, Kether aspect of one Self. Curiously, its numerical value, 280, is that of the Name of the Archangel of Malkuth, Sandalphon, reminding us that "Malkuth is in Kether, and Kether is in Malkuth". Sandalphon's name has been translated to mean "the sound of sandals", the sound of passage of Him That Goest. In Greek, the number 280 is written Sigma-Pi, equivalent to Samekh-Peh. It is at the intersection of these two paths on the Tree of Life, before the Veil of Paroketh, that one symbolically stands in performing the traditional Pentagram Ritual. It seems likely that this symbolism is to be maintained in the Star Ruby. This is emphasized by another significance of 280: it is the number of squares on the walls of the Vault of the Adepti wherein the initiates of the Golden Dawn were raised to full adepthood. That psyche of the pronouncement of the word SOI is none other than the highest manifestation of one's own Holy Guardian Angel.
W FALLE, (O PHALLE) means, "O Phallus". Notice that Crowley could have simply said "Phallus", but instead sang a brief praise to that part of the body coresponding to the lower spheres of the Tree of Life, appending the exclamatory "O". The numerical value of this word couplet is thus 1369. This number is the square of 37! Thirty-seven is the value of the word YECHIDAH, the aspect of conciousness assigned to Kether. Remarkably, we have not only placed the Archangel of Malkuth in Kether, but the consciousness of Kether in Malkuth. No other formula would be so complete. In Greek, 1369 is written Alpha-Tau-Xi-Theta: the primal Life-breath (A), the phallic Cross (T), the phallic Cross (C), and the phallic serpent (F). It would seem this number is most appropriate for "O Phallus".
A link has been established between the Spirit Supernal and the Spirit Incarnate (see Liber Tzaddi, especially verses 33-34). The magician is balanced vertically, and prepared to be balanced horizontally.
ISCUROS, (ISChUROS) literally means "strong, mighty", corresponding to Geburah. It's value is 1580. Advanced students of Qabalah may wish to study this as 20 x 79. In Greek, 1580 is written Alpha-Phi-Pi, Phi and Pi both being equivalent to the Hebrew Peh, Mars; and Alpha again representint the Primal Energy of Life.
EUCARISTOS, (EUChARISTOS) is the root of our word "eucharist" and essentially indicates a blessing, clearly corresponding to Chesed, the Sphere of Jupiter. Its letters total 1886, or 2 x 23 x 41; where 23 is most notibly the value of ChIH, "life"; and 41 fo AM, "mother". This balances against the masculine quality of Mars in Ischuros. (NOTE: These numbers - 2, 23, and 41 - are the prime factors of 1886.)
In the place of L'OLAM is the Gnostic versicle IAW. IAO can be studied at length in Magick in Theory and Practice (Chapter 5). At the risk of oversimplification, it may be regarded in this ritual as a mantram of Tiphareth, declaring the central balance and equilibration that has been established by the four-armed cross, as well as the Light which springs forth in the center of the cross (in the heart region) in the completion of Pentagrammaton. Its value is 811, hinting at the union of Hadit (8) and Nuit (11). These three letters, Iota, Alpha, and Omega, are the exact letters used to write the number 881 in Greek. That is, they are the essence of the number in themselves.
This cross is preceded by the command, APO PANTOS KAKODAIMONOS (APO PANTOS KAKODAIMONOS). This means, "Completely away (from here), Evil Spirits". The word KAKOS literally means "bad", which is to be taken in a functional, rather than moralistic sense, as "that which is contrary to the performance of my True Will". In fact, KAKODIAMON means "evil genius", or the shadow side of one's H.G.A. (KALODAIMON, "beautiful genius".)
The phrase APO PANTOS KAKODAIMONOS is exactly equivalent to HEKAS, HEKAS, ESTE BEBELOI, or to PROCUL, O PROCUL ESTE PROFANI. Both mean, "Away, away, that which is profane".Divine Names of the Quarters
Notice that between 1913 and circa 1929, Crowley modified the Divine Names vibrated at each quarter. In each case, the movement is widdershins (counter-clockwise).
In the earlier version of the Star Ruby, the Names are: CAOS (ChAOS), East; BABALON (BABALON), North; ERWS (EROS), West; and YUCH (PsUChE), South.
CAOS is the name of Chokmah. The word means much the same as it does in English, but in the sense of "that which was the nature of the Universe before order was established". It represents the infinite, unordered expanses of existence. With sublime perfection, its numerical value (871) is written in Greek as Omega-Omicron-Alpha. O-mega (W) is the "big O"and O-micron (O) the "little O" of the Greek alphabet; while Alpha (Aleph a) is the Fool, whose number is 0. We thus have declared in this name the Trinity as Nothing, the unbounded openness of space. This may also be read as "from Alpha to Omega, with Nothing (0) between".
BABALON is the Sublime Manifest Aspect of Nuit described at length in The Vision and the Voice. Her number, in Greek as in Hebrew, is 156. See I.T.C., Vol. 1, No. 7 for some meanings of this number.
ERWS is the name of the god whom the Greeks called "Cupid". The word literally means "love" or "desire", and is here assigned to the West, the place of death. This word, unlike most in Greek, can be spelled with the "O" either as Omicron or Omega. The latter gives it a value of 1105; but the former totals to 375, the value of Solomon.
YUCH is familiar to us as "psyche". The Greek letter Upsilon, though the letter "u", looks like "y" in its capital form. Most Greek words with an Upsilon have it transliterated as "y" when the word is brought into English.The correct, original pronunciation is closer to the English "u", however; identical to the French "u" (as in tu). PsUChE is most commonly translated as "soul"; but its earliest use is identical with the Latin spiritus, "breath, life".
Its numerical value is 1708. This is written in Greek as Alpha-Psi-Eta. This provides us with a powerful formula of attainment! The Psi and Eta remain from the original word, but Upsilon (400) and Chi (600) have been unidted to produce a large Alpha (1000). Upsilon is equivalent to Vau, the Son, and Chi (X) is the Cross. In their conjunction they become the Breath of Life, the Babe in the Egg matured into Pangenator Pamphage (the large A, not the small; compare Therion's analysis of "The Formula of Agape" in Magick in Theory and Practice where the large Alpha is equated with Dionysus).
This is then a formula of the Rose-Cross. Beside it are twin forms of Receptive Adoration and invocation of the Most High to descend and fulfill one's vehicle: Psi, the individual (U) standing with arms upraised to Heaven, the Wand upright and keen within the Cup; and Eta, which is Cheth, Cancer, the Holy Graal.
In the later version of the Star Ruby, the Divine Names provided are: ThERION in the East, NUITh in the North, BABALON in the West, and HADITh in the South. These names are much more familiar to the budding Thelemite. Their attributes can be studied in Liber V vel Reguli where the same formula is used. Notice that ThERION (who is the Divine Aspect called "The Beast", is not by any means the man Aleister Crowley) is assigned to Taurus; NUITh to Aquarius; BABALON to Scorpio; and HADITh to Leo. The correct spellings of these are:
ThERION = Q-H-R-I-O-N = 247
NUITh = N-U-I-Q = 469
BABALON = B-A-B-A-L-O-N = 156
HADITh = A-D-I-Q = 315N.O.X. and IO Pan
The Signs of N.O.X. are given in Liber Reguli in Magick in Theory and Practice. "Nox" means "night". The night referred to is the "Night of Pan". It refers to the Sublime Darkness veiled by the Ineffable Light. We may study this in the early chapters of The Book of Lies, and in Liber Reguli. See also I.T.C., Volume III, Number 2 for an analysis of the number 210.
IO PAN is a hailing exclamation to the God Pan. Pan is written as PAN: "P, the letter of Mars, is a heiroglyph of two pillars, and therefore suggests duality; A, by its shape, is the pentagram, energy, and N, by its Tarot attribution, is death" (The Book of Lies, Ch. I, Commentary).Invocation of the Guardians
The fourth section of this ritual translates into English as follows: "Before me, Junges; behind me, Teletarchai; on my right hand, Sonoches; on my left hand, Daimones [or Daimonos]. For about me shines the Pentagram [literally, "star of five"] and in the column is the six-rayed star [literally, "star of six"].
The word translated as "column" is STHLHI (STELE), exactly as in "Stélé of Revealing". It means a block of stone, often as a monument or declaration of a covenant, frequently in the form of a pillar or post. Notice that one version lists "Daimonos" and the other, "Daimones". This is not a misspelling. There are seperate words, each suitable to the ritual in different ways.
For several reasons, we had assumed that Junges, Sonoches, Teletarchai and Daimones were intended to be archangels postulated by Crowley in his Hellenization of the Pentagram Ritual. After all, they appear to replace the Hebrew archangels of the elements of the latter ritual. They were declared to be "the guardians" of the quarters, and do appear to represent orders of divine or semi-devine beings, provided we define "beings" a little differently than we normally do.
They were not, however, inventions of 666. They come directly from the Pythagorean school as represented in the so-called "Chaldæan Oracles", often attributed to Zoroaster, but most certainly communicated through spiritual experience to Julianus in the Second Century A.D. These Oracles were considered among the finest philosophical or religious writings of their time. Their exalted eloquence can be found excerpted throughout the rituals of the Golden Dawn. Crowley's Little Essays Toward Truth is, in some ways, little more than a commentary on these aphorisms. Our authority for quotations that follow is the compilation and translation of these Oralces by Sapere Aude (Wynn Wescott).
In approaching the Oracles, we must purify ourselves of prior conceptions of the meanings of certain words before we may proceed with our Work. Certain words are used in ways misleading to the average student in our circles. For example, "intelligible" and "intellectual" do not in these verses refer to Ruach, or what we call the Intellect. They instead imply the highest reaches of conciousness beyond the abyss, even at the pre-formative levels prior to Kether, in the Ain Soph Aur. "Father", similarly, should neither be regarded as the Judeo-Christian Demiurgos, nor as the Supernal Father, Chokmah; it is an unfortunately gendered term implying the All, the Undifferentiated. I cannot, for myself, discriminate it from ideas of Nuit or Tao, amd must struggle fiercly to resist sliding into prior Christian conditioning about "Our Father, who art in Heaven". Such anthropomorphisms are totally destructive to grasping the essence -- to truely understanding the meaning of the passages about to be quoted.
The one virtue, and it is a slight one, in retaining the paternal designation of the Naught is that it permits the use of a certain sexual symbolism in the description of the Creation of Things. Kether, "the white Head" to Qabalists, but a White Hole to the physicist, spewing radiant matter into our physical universe from some alternative realm of exsistance, may be likened in this so-called Chaldæan model to the spewing Ejaculate of the Infinite, each seed being in truth a Star.
In what follows, notice also that prior to things there came into ** a matrix, shall we say, of that Form within which things might come to exsist. Keep in mind Ko Yuen's (Aleister Crowley's) words in the introduction to the Tao Teh King:
"The Tao is 'Reason' in this sense, that the substance of things may be in part apprehended as being that necessary relation between the elements of thought which determines the laws of reason. In other words, the only reality is that which compels us to connect the various forms of illusion as we do. It is thus evidently unknowable, and expressible neither by speech nor by silence. All that we can know about is that there is inherant in it a power (which, however, is not itself) by virtue whereof all beings appear in forms congruous with the nature of necessity."
With these words of preface, we quote from Part II of the Chaldæan Oracles:
"The mind of the Father whirled forth in re-echoing roar, comprehending by invincible will Ideas omniform; which flying forth from that one fountain issued; for from the Father alike was the Will and the End (by which they are connected with the Father according to alternating life, through varying vehicles). But they were divided asunder, being by Intellectual Fire distributed into other Intellectuals. For the King of all previously placed before the polymorphous World a Type, intellectual, incorruptable, the imprint of whose form is sent forth through the World, by which the Universe shone forth decked with Ideas of all various, of which the foundation is One. One and alone. From this the others rush forth distributing and separating through the various bodies of the Universe, and are borne in swarms through its vast abysses, ever whirling forth in illimitable radiation."
"They are intellectual conceptions from the Paternal Foundation partaking abundantly of the brilliance of Fire in the culmination of unresting Time."
"But the primary self-perfect Fountain of the Father poured forth these primogenial Ideas."
Speaking further of these "Ideas" (that is, root structuralizations of consciousness of so early a stage as to be beyond comprehension), the text continues: "These being many, descended flashingly upon the shining Worlds, and in them are contained the Three Supernals. They are the guardians of the works of the Father, and of the One Mind, the Intelligible."
These "guardians" -- a word used identically by 666 with reference to the Tylers of the Quadrents -- are the Three Supernals. They were called the "Intellectual Triad". Wescott tells us in his interpolation on the text, "The Second Order of the Platonist philosophy was the 'Intelligible and Intellectual Triad'. Among the Chaldæans, this order includes the Junges, Synoches, and Teletarchs."
We deal therefore with Supernal concepts; though, as we'll see below, these names (all of which, incidentally, are Greek plurals, thus are not the names of individual Beings whatsoever) refer to classes of Beings much like the "orders of angels" of the Hebrew Qabalah. They are correspondant to the Supernals. But they are not the Supernals themselves.
Also, we admit to having but begun to understand these ideas. Our investigation into the depths of Pythagorean and Neo-Platonic thought, which relate closely to these Oracles, is very young. Hopefully these understandings will mature. We appreciate the input of our brothers and sisters in this work, as surely there are others far more knowledgable in these areas than we are.
Notice in preliminary the initial letters of these four orders of Beings. Begining East and moving clockwise, they are:
Iota (I) 10, which is by Aiq Bkr, 1
Sigma (S) 200, which is by Aiq Bkr, 2
Tau (T) 300, which is by Aiq Bkr, 3
Delta (D) 4, which is by Aiq Bkr, 4IUGGES
In the East we invoke Junges (Iota-Upsilon-Gamma-Gamma-Epsilon-Sigma: in Greek the double "GG" is pronounced like "ng").
The arithmetic total of these numbers is 621. Writing this number in Greek, we get Chi, the Chariot; Kappa, the Wheel of Fortune; Alpha, the Primal Swirlings, or Swastika, or Thunderbolt of Zeus. Totalling the numbers of the Tarot Trumps corresponding we get 7 + 10 + 0 = 17, a number again representative of the swastika. Every aspect of this suggests a spinning, electrical surge, a primal, swirling power.
Aeschylus used this word metaphorically to mean "a spell, charm, passionate yearning for"; but this is a derivative meaning. The word comes from IUGMOS, a shreaking sound. Junges was the name given to the wryneck, a bird noted for its cry. Once more we find the symbolism of the wheel: for ancient witches used to bind the wryneck to a wheel, believing that, as it turned, it drew human hearts along with it.
Much later the idea of a "spell" took on a specific significance. Psellus describes a specific magical method:
"The Hecatine Strophalus is the Golden Ball, in the midst whereof is a Sapphire; they fold about it a Leather-Thong; it is beset all over with Characters: thus whipping it about, they made their Invocations; these they called Iynges, whether it be round or triangular, or any other Figure; and whilst they are doing thus, they make Insignificant or Brutish Cries, and lash the Air with their Whips. The Oracle advisith to the performance of these Rites or such a Motion of Strophalus, as having an expressible Power."
Within the Oracles themselves we find symbolism consistent with Chokmah and, even more so, with Alchemical Sulphur. This is most interesting since the Order of Angels of Chokmah are the Auphanim, that is, "Wheels".
Quoth the Oracles:"The Intelligible Junges themselves understand from the Father; by ineffable counsel being moved to understand." "Understand" should not be "understood" to be that word which in Hebrew is Binah. The key to the above is that the Supernals were said to be contained within the "sperm" of the Father. They are, we suppose, like chromosomes. This analogy is perfect, explaining precisely the way in which they are "by ineffable counsel being moved to understand".
Junges are further called "the Operator... the Giver of Life-Bearing Fire... it filleth the Life-producing bosom of Hecate; and it instilleth into the Sunoches the enlivening strength of Fire, ended with mighty Power." Hecate was an important deity to the Chaldæans. One of the "old gods" (i.e. Supernal), she had originally not only her dark, destructive aspect with which we are most familiar, but was a fertile goddess of generation (as anyone who caught Chris Kimball in MacBeth at the Metropolitan Opera can tell you). She is unquestionably an aspect of Binah, toward which the Junges fulfill a Chokmah function. Similarly, we start to get a hint at the real nature of Sunoches. These conjectures are supported by Pletho saying that Junges are "the Intellectual Species which are conceived by the Father; they themselves also being conceptive, and exciting Conceptions or notions, by unspeakable or unutterable Counsels is as much as unmoved, for speaking consists in Motions"; the meaning is this, "That these Species [Junges] are immovable and have a habitude to Notions not transiently as the Soul." Psellus adds, "Iynges are certain (Virtues or) Powers, next the Paternal Depth, consisting of three Triads. These understand according to the Paternal Mind, which containeth their Cause solely in himself...."SUNOCES
This word Sunoches (Sigma-Upsilon-Nu-Omicron-Chi-Epsilon-Sigma) has a value of 1525. This is the value in Hebrew of Shem Hamphorash, The 72-fold Name of God. By factoring it we get 5 x 5 x 61. This is interesting, since 61 is the value of Ain, "no-thing", of KALI the Hindu goddess of destruction, etc.; and the closest correspondance of Sunoches to a member of the Supernal Triad is Binah.
No such Greek word can be found in precisely this form, though enough similar words exsist to allow us to deduce its meaning. SUNOChE means "a being held together". SUNEChO means "to hold together; to enclose, to encompass, embrace; to keep together, keep from dispersing; to constrain or force one to a thing; to oppress, afflict". SUNEChES means "holding together" and "continuous" (as in a continuous sequence of things held together), hinting at the idea of "eternity".
So the root meaning is a holding together, a binding action. Much of the above corresponds to the maternal, form-giving aspect of Binah. Magically, we may say that, if the Junges is the conjuration, Sunoches is the constraint.
The image of Binah, as the compliment to the Chokmah aspect of Junges "instilleth into the Sunoches the enlivening strength of Fire, endued with mighty Power". To "instill" is to pour into (as a cup), drop by drop. We may recall that in the Scarlet Woman "is all power given".
The Oracles say, "He gave his own Whirlwinds to guard the Supernals, mingling the proper force of his own strength in the Sunoches". Again, the idea of strength being established in Sunoches. We recall that the Masons interpret Boaz to mean "strengthening" and Jachin to mean "establishment".
Some other passages: "But likewise as many as serve the material Sunoches". The syntax is unintelligable to me, but notice the material Sunoches.
"The Teletarches are comprehended in the Sunoches". To "comprehend" is a superior translation of the Hebrew BINH , which we render "understanding". The rest of this sentence is incomprehensible until we understand the Teletarchs.
Knowing that all three of these represent Supernal concepts, I find the Binah symbolism consistent. Alternatively, we can see root ideas of the Alchemical concept of Salt.DAIMONES/ DAIMONOS
DAIMON means "god, goddess", much like Theos or Thea. In Homer it is interchangeable with the Latin numen. Though it is the source of our word "demon", it was only in the New Testament times that it came to have "demonic" attributes. Most simply it meant any sort of spirit or "genius".
The plural of this word is DAIMONOS, the word used in the later version of the Star Ruby. It therefore means Spirits, "Geniuses" or Entities. In the hierarchy of the Chaldæans, the Daimonos were beneath the Demiurges, who were beneath the "Intellectual Triad" (i.e., the Supernals). We therefore have the most "earthly" concept of these four; and it is perhaps significant that Daimonos are assigned to the North, "the place of the greatest darkness".
DAIMONOS totals to 445. (No, Most Beloved Frater, it cannot be spelled without the A).
A different, but related, word is DAIMONES. Hesiod used this term to mean "the souls of men of the Golden Age, forming a link between gods and men". That is, Man-God. As what we call the H.G.A. was of old termed the "genius" (Daimon), the Daimones were those who "had their genius"; that is, true aspects.
This word totals to 380. Check Sepher Sephiroth and you'll see this is the number gotten by multiplying, one-for-one, the value of the letters YHVH by the value of the letters of ADNI. The result is a very complex idea of Deity; that is, one suitable for the evening news. Other words of this value are OTzB OTzBVN, "pain, trouble, misery"; and ORPL, "thick fog, darkness"; but it is also a name of Egypt. Perhaps the hidden meaning to Jewry is "the place of our difficulty".
We have, by now, come a fair bit down the Tree of Life! These clues certainly fit what we next expected to see, the earthed correspondent to the Divine Triad. This factor fulfills the Trihnity to perfection. The Aspirant (Man of Earth) stands before the Initiator (Teletarchai). We have, it seems, a coherant system in the tetrad.Summary
We may then say that from the Tao came a flood of Ideas; and that of these Ideas, Three were "guardians of the works of the Father". This Spiritual Triad, Junges, Sunoches and Teletarchai were fulfilled and reflected on Earth, in manifestation, by a fourth, called Daimones or Daimonos.
The Triad corresponds fairly to the alchemical principles of Sulphur, Salt and Mercury, respecrively; and these are fulfilled in the Stone.
IUGGES appears to be the name of an Order of Beings (that is, categories of organization of conciousness) correlative with Chokmah, whose nature is fiery, invigorating, seminal, transmitting by ineffable means the Will of All.
SUNOCES appears to be the name of an Order of Beings correlative with Binah and representing the function of alchemical Salt, whose nature is binding, holding together, uniting in love under will, being instilled with strength and power.
TELETARCAI appears to be the name of an Order of Beings correlative with the Middle Pillar, representing the agent of initiation, the result of the insemination of Sunoches by Junges. As the "Overlord of Initiation" originating in the Supernals, this is not incompatible with Ra-Hoor-Khuit; the only difference in the attribution being that one is placed in the East, the other in the West.
DAIMONOS are Spirits, Divinities below the Abyss. If we take the word to be Daimones then it signifies the energies of departed Adepts, the Inner Plane representatives of the Order, much like the Saints as invoked in the Mass of the Gnostic Catholic Church, the "Sons of the Lion and the Serpent".
And what is the purpose of this ritual which calls upon the names of Nuit, Hadit, Babalon and Therion, then places at the quarters such Potencies as these? Why, the only purpose for which any magick is suitable at all! As it is described in the Oracles themselves:
"So therefore first the Priest who governeth the works of Fire, must sprinkle with the Water of the loud-resounding Sea."
"Labour thou around the Strophalos of Hecate. When thou shalt see a Terrestrial Dæmon approaching, Cry aloud! and sacrifice the stone Mnizouirin."
"If thou often invokest thou shalt see all things growing dark; and then when no longer is visible unto thee the High-Arched Vault of Heaven, when the stars have lost their Light and the Lamp of the Moon is veiled, the Earth abideth not, and around thee darts the Lightning Flame and all things appear amid thunder..."
"A similar Fire flashing extending through the rushings of Air, or a Fire formless whence cometh the Image of a Voice, or even a flashing Light abounding, revolving, whirling forth, crying aloud. Also there is the vision of the fire-flashing Courier of Light, or also a Child, borne aloft on the shoulders of the Celestial Steed, fiery or clothed with gold, or naked, or shooting with the bow shafts of Light, and standing on the shoulders of the horse; then if thy meditation prolongeth itself, thou shalt unite all these symbols into the form of a Lion."
"When thou shalt behold that Holy and Formless Fire shining flashingly through the depths of the Universe: Hear thou the Voice of Fire."
ABRAHADABRA!93 93/93.'.
James
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According to one source:
IYNGES = initiators
TELETARCHI = maintainers
SYNOCHES = perfectors
DAIMONOS = executorsof the Divine Creative Impulse (www.hermetic.com/sabazius/starruby_rit.htm)
On the other hand, Shachdar’s post indicates:
IYNGES = fiery, invigorating, seminal, transmitting Will of All
TELETARCHI = initiators
SYNOCHES = maintainers
DAIMONOS = spiritsAny consensus on the nature of these four Greek/Chaldean principles?
Also, I wonder whether it makes sense to try to correlate these Greek/Chaldean principles to the Tree of Life? Given the sexual nature of the Star Ruby, I presume AC wanted to create a banishing ritual that was free of all Judeo-Christian aspects and derived from pagan pre-Christian elements.