Thelema Tattoo
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...After musing upon something that could be called a Thelemic symbol, I decided that if I were to get inked with one, I'd get the symbol of the Sun to symbolize the Stellar nature of Thelema, as well as the circumference of the circle with the "dot" in the center referral to Nuit and Hadit.
Or maybe a pent with a red circle in the middle...?
I don't think I'll have any inking done any time soon, though. The piercing I got last is infected and that's enough to deal with.
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Sophia LVX wrote:
"Maybe you should get a tattoo of a symbol that has meaning for you as you continue your study? To me a very personalized symbol might be most "Thelemic". I myself have an ankh among others and am designing an octagram tattoo. Perhaps as you introspect and learn more about magick you will be drawn to a certain symbol."
Pure wisdom.
I think a truly *'thelemic' *emblem would be unique to the 'star' [personality] for who is to bear it. A symbol of one's true will might be appropriate given that time of awareness.
But, as many of my friends who embrace the thelemic path have suggested in their own tattooing, is that they needed inspiration for the Work and it was this daily reminder upon their flesh that aided them.
I think in that instance, a symbol that one GROKS with through study of the various symbols related to this Work might be a good avenue for exploration.
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@jw said
"Symbol of the Beast from Liber Oz?
Rock out with your cock out!
"I got a lot of tattoos and I have been thinking about to make the sign of the beast on my chest
I have been dreaming about it for a long time. But some may think it a bit out there to do it -
@noctivagus said
"
I got a lot of tattoos and I have been thinking about to make the sign of the beast on my chest
I have been dreaming about it for a long time. But some may think it a bit out there to do it "Didn't Jim mention that the sun/moon /genitalia symbol was not the Mark of the Beast but rather Crowley's 'To Mega Therion' glyph instead?
I may be misremembering and didn't ask at the time but what would be the Mark of the Beast in that case? -
@Anchorite said
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@noctivagus said
"Didn't Jim mention that the sun/moon /genitalia symbol was not the Mark of the Beast but rather Crowley's 'To Mega Therion' glyph instead?
I may be misremembering and didn't ask at the time but what would be the Mark of the Beast in that case?"
"Ah sorry think it's mark I think. I might mixing things up. But where did he mention it? I would like to read some more about it.
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is mine
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@jw. said
"Symbol of the Beast from Liber Oz?
Rock out with your cock out!
"Might the A A sigil with the seven pointed "Babalon" star, the Theta and the 7s and 77s be considered the (or at any rate a) "Thelemic symbol"?
A TV children's show host here in NZ many years ago appeared in a sweatshirt featuring that symbol, with the word JOY overlaying it - the O as the theta I wrote her a mischievous letter in a very disapproving tone, explaining its significance and giving her a bit of background on Crowley.
She took it completely seriously and phoned me to apologise
She'd apparently picked it up at a market stall in complete ignorance of its associations. "Joy" she told me, was the name of the company that made them. Debasement of its signigficance? Possible copyright infringement?I don't think she'd had any genuine complaints from any of the kids' parents - but then they probably weren't watching.
It's a good thing it wasn't the "Sun, Moon and balls dependent"
That went over my head the first time I saw it.OP
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@Oliver P said
"Might the A A sigil with the seven pointed "Babalon" star, the Theta and the 7s and 77s be considered the (or at any rate a) "Thelemic symbol"?"
Hard to see why this would be so since the A.'.A.'. (in its larger sense, which this symbol represents) preexists the Aeon of Horus.
BTW, that's not a theta. As its surface meaning, it's a vessica divided into two halves. The origin of it is two parentheses and the horizontal bar of a fraction in the formula 77+(7+7)/7 +77.
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@Jim Eshelman said
"BTW, that's not a theta. As its surface meaning, it's a vessica divided into two halves. The origin of it is two parentheses and the horizontal bar of a fraction in the formula 77+(7+7)/7 +77."
Ah, I see. I'd always seen theta as at least one of its meanings; thought it stood for "Thelema".
Thanks for the clarification. You learn something new every day in this place.
Two things: I didn't realise "Babalon" was Enochian. and presumably as old as Dee.
OP
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Here's a good copy for closer inspection:
http://ordoaa.org/images/aaseal1.jpg
The interior is based on this:
.................. 7+7
....... 77 + ( ----- ) + 77
.................... 7Seven 7s arranged in an equation that equals 156.
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@Modes said
"But why is the septagram point down? What does it mean i.e. point down? I didn't find an answer in GD polygons paper."
No, you don't.
One such geometrics, a convention arose at some point in time whereby a single point upright gives a masculine characteristic to the figure, and two points upright gives a feminine turn. (Yes, it's "his one thing sticking up" vs. "her legs in the air.")
This didn't start with Crowley - notice the chief symbol of the Order of the Eastern Star which is what most would call an "averse pentagram," but which this Bible-based women's auxiliary surely doesn't regard as a demonic symbol. It's just one way to express the female version.
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@Jim Eshelman said
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@Modes said
"But why is the septagram point down? What does it mean i.e. point down? I didn't find an answer in GD polygons paper."No, you don't.
One such geometrics, a convention arose at some point in time whereby a single point upright gives a masculine characteristic to the figure, and two points upright gives a feminine turn. (Yes, it's "his one thing sticking up" vs. "her legs in the air.")
This didn't start with Crowley - notice the chief symbol of the Order of the Eastern Star which is what most would call an "averse pentagram," but which this Bible-based women's auxiliary surely doesn't regard as a demonic symbol. It's just one way to express the female version."
I've often been vaguely worried by the use of the "averse pentagram" by a number of police forces. Thanks for the reassurance, Jim. I'm not sure cops I know would take kindly to the idea that it's a "feminine" symbol.
"Police! Legs in the air!"
http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/3653/victorianpolicewf7.jpg
"It's not the ears; the goat is obviously wearing a broad-brimmed straw hat. It suits him" - friend of my daughter (I wish I still had her drawing of it).
http://z.about.com/d/altreligion/1/0/Y/J/1/wirthsigil.jpg
OP
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Notice I said it was one way to feminize a pentagram. It's obviously context sensitive. Like widdershins motion (for example), it means different things in different settings.
But what do you have against lady cops with their legs in the air, hmm?
In any case, that's the difference between the heptagram used for Babalon and the one that the (solar) Vault of the Adepts is based on.
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Thans for the swift answer!
The other thing that got my brain spin is that there're two types of the septagram. The one of Babalon and another is on the Prince of Wands. The Prince of Wands has the To Mega Therion sigil which is, I believe, masculine in a two points up septagram. I guess it has a different meaning in the card. Any ideas?
And there's the interesting idea in The Book of Thoth that the To Mega Therion (lingam) and Babalon (yoni) sigils unite. So I thought the two different septagrams unite but, surprise surprise, The Ace of Disks has the Babalon heptagram but with the To Mega Therion sigil in it! So my guess is that only the sigils unite? Right? -
@Modes said
"The Prince of Wands has the To Mega Therion sigil which is, I believe, masculine in a two points up septagram. I guess it has a different meaning in the card. Any ideas?"
The Sigil of To Mega Therion is an amalgamation of figures of Sun, Moon, and Venus. The heptagram continues to be a feminine symbol, therefore, inasmuch as Venus is. (Compare these three planets to CCXX III:30.)
"o my guess is that only the sigils unite? Right?"
Huh
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I have one tattoo that I personally associate with Crowley. The photograph is taken in such a way that the orientation of the flower is improper and inverted, but I didn't have it tattooed for others to look at. when I look down at it, it's properly aligned. I obviously took some liberties with it.
www.flickr.com/photos/34398959@N06/3197454869
One of my other tattoos I just think is fantastic and has spiritual significance to me is this:
www.flickr.com/photos/34398959@N06/3198314242
It's color original can be found by image searching "eye of horus" on google and it has several different versions of the piece.
Good to have Horus watching your back hehe.
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@Aspirant93 said
"...One of my other tattoos I just think is fantastic and has spiritual significance to me is this:
www.flickr.com/photos/34398959@N06/3198314242It's color original can be found by image searching "eye of horus" on google and it has several different versions of the piece.
Good to have Horus watching your back hehe."
This is the best I've seen, from Tutankhamen's tomb:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3206/2912402034_ee2b6617d7.jpg
I saw it in the Cairo Museum many years ago, and had a distinctly Crowley moment when I noticed the exhibit bore the number 222 [from memory this was the numbering of a specific section of artefacts from Tutankhamun's tomb, not the general permanent numbering system of all the museum's exhibits].
At the time I was attracted to a young woman back home in the UK, whom I was trying to interest in things magic[k]al and whose name I had counted (in Hebrew transliteration) as that number*.
When I later saw a reproduction I almost bought it to give to her; but I thought there was a good chance she wouldn't be as impressed as I was, so I let the opportunity go -especially as it was quite expensive and the shopkeeper would not be bargained with
I still sometimes wish I'd bought it for myself; it was a rare good piece; most Egyptian "souvenirs" of the time were a bit rough; maybe something to do with most of the present inhabitants of Egypt not being genetically or culturally "connected" with the Ancient Egyptians.
When I Go-ogled [went ogling?] for a picture of this piece I saw a lot of shoddy and insensitive modern jewellery on the "Eye of Horus" theme; it's a shame.
To bring things back on topic, what works of art (other than those specifically designed for the purpose by Thelemites) have inspired you in a Thelemic way?
I used to lie on the thoughtfully provided couches under the British Museum reproduction of the Nu(i)]t ceiling in the Temple of Denderah and slip easily into a meditative state - and this was before I'd read Liber Legis at all seriously.
Is "Stele 666" still in one of the Cairo museums, and does it still bear that number?
BTW, a technical "spolier" point. It's up to Aspirant93 to decide who's watching his back; after all, it's his tattoo; but I think on the original pendants that's Nekhebet, the vulture goddess of Upper Egypt (counterpart to Wadjet, the cobra goddess of Lower Egypt, at the front).
Aspirant93's tattoo does make the figure look rather more Horus-like; it doesn't have the distinctive scrawny vulture neck.
OP
*Her life seemed full of 2s and when I did a Tarot reading for her, and considered an appropriate personal significator, Waite's Two of Swords impressed itself on me as the right choice; I think it's the only time I ever didn't use a Court card to represent the querent.