Seven Sermons to the Dead
-
He spoke fondly of him in the New Comment...
@666 said
"Ra-Hoor-Khuit is the Crowned and Conquering Child. This is also a reference to the "Crowned" and Conquering "Child" in ourselves, our own personal God. Except ye become as little children, said "Christ, " ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of Malkuth, The Virgin Bride, and the Child is the Dwarf-Self, the Phallic consciousness, which is the true life of Man, beyond his "veils" of incarnation. We have to thank Freud - and especially Jung - for stating this part of the Magickal Doctrine so plainly"
616
-
93,
Phoinix 93 wrote:
"Seeing as how a lot of the phrasing, symbolism and its over all cosmology is strikingly similar to that in Liber AL, do you guys think that Jung could have been affiliated with Crowley?"
I'd offer two points here. One is that much of the philosophy in Liber AL is a restatement of material that's been a part of the mysteries for millennia. Secondly, while <i>Memories, Dreams, Reflections</i> masks the fact, Jung was very widely read in occultism and gnosticism. A large amount of such literature was available to the discerning around the end of the 19th Century and the start of the 20th. Richard Noll's books bring this (especially The Jung Cult and, though it's a bit off the deep end, his <i>The Aryan Christ</i>) out. So, when he plunged into the state he entered around the start of WW 1, his psyche was well primed to bring forth what came out in the VII Sermons.
That said, I do think Jung was plugged into the current of the new Aeon. He felt a sea-change was happening, and believed the Mysteries needed a restatement. His psycho-mystical system was his response to this.
93 93/93,
EM
-
93 Edward,
Edward Mason wrote: I'd offer two points here. One is that much of the philosophy in Liber AL is a restatement of material that's been a part of the mysteries for millennia. Secondly, while Memories, Dreams, Reflections masks the fact, Jung was very widely read in occultism and gnosticism. A large amount of such literature was available to the discerning around the end of the 19th Century and the start of the 20th. Richard Noll's books bring this (especially The Jung Cult and, though it's a bit off the deep end, his The Aryan Christ). So, when he plunged into the state he entered around the start of WW 1, his psyche was well primed to bring forth what came out in the VII Sermons.
I think that you are correct in thinking that Jung was linked with the Aeon of Horus. Just differently worded.
Very well put!!!
93 93/93.'.
James Cruz
Kohen ha-Gadhel
Albuquerque, NM -
I'm not so sure I understand what it means to be in a "current," but I have read Jung's Aion: Researches into the Phenomenology of the Self.
In it Jung draws from the symbolism of gnosticism and mystery religions to examine the symbolism of the Fish in the Age of Pisces. He seems to view the universality of the symbol as a naturally occurring phenomenon of the unconscious of humanity as it unfolded in that period in history. It's alignment with the sign of Pisces in that astrological age, he saw as a "synchronicity" - which he seemed to define as a coincidence of events so striking in their suggested meaning that they would imply some sense of causal relationship to the mind, though no such relationship can be discerned by the discoveries of science as yet.
As he turned in his analysis to the subject of the theology of Christianity, he suggests that main symbols and archetypes of the faith as they exist today have cut off an essential aspect of self. In short, it has created a deep unconscious Shadow-Truth about the Self that it denies by continually condemning and repressing it.
Jung spoke from his theory of how the psyche strives for its own equilibrium and said that this psychological law not only predicted but demanded the emergence of that which is considered "Anti-Christ" through an "enantiodromia" that the consciousness of humanity must inevitably experience.
Seen as such, you might say that Jung spoke of the inevitability of the emergence of the Beast from the Collective Unconscious of humanity. But beyond that, there would seem to be only guesses as to their connection.
In my eyes, Jung was explaining what was happening through Crowley, but he was probably too lost in his own True Will to pay much attention. He didn't require Crowley, in other words, to understand the same thing. At least that's my take on him.
-
**And we are blessed that Marilyn Manson rose to the occassion.
Interesting, how the word current is used during a Piscean age. I wonder if we will use a new word during the age of Aquarius.
Alot of this Jung also went into in his writings on Acausal Principle (a rather dry read) but basically introduced his ideas on synchronicity.
Of course, to me, Aleister Crowley was the Great Beast 666 and the world can rest assured that he has fulfilled his purpose and true will.**
-
93,
The point is made every few months, but it's always worth reiterating. The succession of Aeons is NOT tied into the precession of the Equinoxes that shifts us one from one astrological age to the next.
Followers of sidereal astrology, such as myself, would hold in any case that the age of Pisces still has centuries to run.
93 9/93,
EM
-
@Edward Mason said
"The succession of Aeons is NOT tied into the precession of the Equinoxes that shifts us one from one astrological age to the next."
It makes sense not to base the inner magickal on the outer physical, but I am not sure what is meant by "Equinox of the Gods." However it at least supposedly did line up with the Spring Equinox of 1904, if we do not count it with the first day of writing--so this is sun/earth based, or synchronized with the physical. Any good sites with pictures of the sun in 1904?
Per Liber Legis there will be a future one, so we might just have to wait. Do you think it is just when humanity is spiritually ripe for the change? I have read it doesn't line up too well with the current astrological system (but I have also read the demarcating lines are pretty hazy); is it possible to set or define your measurements around the spring equinox 1904 date?
-
@phoinix93 said
"What was his take on Jung?
I think I remember reading somewhere that he was opposed to the idea of the Pleroma but I'm not 100% on that."
Crowley and Jung both, apparently, had reservations about the concept. Jung wrote in Answer to Job (1952) that the pleroma is "nothing and everything. It is quite fruitless to think about pleroma. Therein both thinking and being cease, since the eternal and infinite possess no qualities."
And Crowley, in his comment to AL 1:8, said: "Why are we told that the Khabs is in the Khu, not the Khu in the Khabs? Did we then suppose the converse? I think that we are warned against the idea of a Pleroma, a flame of which we are Sparks, and to which we return when we 'attain'. That would indeed be to make the whole curse of separate existence ridiculous, a senseless and inexcusable folly."
OP
-
Wizardioan 93,
The Equinox of the Gods refers to a fundamental switcheroo within (in Jungian terms) the archetype of the Self. It is comparable to an enantiodromia, but that word implies a flipping around to an opposite. In an Equinox of the Gods, the 'next phase' emerges from the last one, because ... well, because it's time.
The Child, in this case, takes over from the Father. But Maat is supposed to be the Self-archetype's form in the next Aeon to come, and that, to my mind, requires other considerations than some kind of familial line of descent. From the current vantage point, it looks like a move towards an abstraction, from the more personal archetypes of Mother Isis, Father Osiris and Son Horus. It's as if it takes us beyond the storming passions of this Aeon into a dispassionate state.
While there is a reference to the Golden Dawn Equinox ritual in Liber AL, I 49, Crowley explicitly chose the start-date of the book's dictation, April 8 1904, as the start of the Aeon. He didn't designate March 21 (or whichever day the actual astronomical Equinox was on that year).
Also, I doubt that either the Aeon of Isis or the Aeon of Osiris actually had a specific start-date. It took the individuation work of the Aeon of Osiris to bring us to a point where such a thing was either practical or desirable.
93 93/93,
EM
-
@Edward Mason said
"Wizardioan 93,
The Equinox of the Gods refers to a fundamental switcheroo within (in Jungian terms) the archetype of the Self. It is comparable to an enantiodromia, but that word implies a flipping around to an opposite. In an Equinox of the Gods, the 'next phase' emerges from the last one, because ... well, because it's time.
EM"
Oh, good. I'd like your opinion on this thought... I wouldn't characterize it as an enantiodromia from the perspective of initiatory formulas.
But for the Christian who has been deeply impressed with a perversion of the Osirian formula and for an age that has been deeply impressed with this perversion, the emergence of the Beast and his philosophy and the changing of the archetypes is experienced as enantiodromia.
i.e. the perversion: "You are stained with original sin. Your mind and senses are completely fallen. You cannot be trusted to correctly interpret spiritual truth. We 'the Authority' are the only ones who may accurately interpret, and your job is simply to eternally submit to us and our decrees - in the Name of the Father." ---The perversion of the doctrine of transcendence through death to self. It impresses a deep deep sense of inadequecy into a person. It makes inadequacy a "core belief" about the self.
Versus: Your mind is good. Your powers are good. You have the ability. Now go do whatever it is you personally need to do in order to embrace those truths. You are Life and Logos! Exceed! Expand! Conquer! Live!
What do you think of that as the enantiodromia...?
Personally, I shudder to imagine what perversions of the formula of this Aeon could bring...
-
@Edward Mason said
"The Equinox of the Gods refers to a fundamental switcheroo within (in Jungian terms) the archetype of the Self...The Child, in this case, takes over from the Father. But Maat is supposed to be the Self-archetype's form in the next Aeon to come..."
I agree that it demarcates a psychic switcheroo; in initiatory terms this usually signifies a progression of consciousness. If it didn't, the aeon would have not been enunciated. There is a connotation that the last aeon was just a screwing up of the goddess aeon, but I don't think it was. Using Crowley's model loosely, which I agree with, I come up with this:
- Ra-Hoor-Khuit
- Osiris
- Hathor, or Isis as Goddess.
This corresponds to early civilization first making use of copper tools. The solar cults and birth of ordered civilization initates Tiphareth. This slightly failed as Osiris's body is still not put back together, i.e. the people and governments of earth are not in complete harmony. Enter Ra-Hoor-Khuit, the Martial form of Horus, whose Will of "War & Vengeance" is to "deal hardly" with this present disorder.
I think it has a spiritual connotation too where for instance many people of earth in the past attained to the "H.G.A." conjunction in the last aeon, and this raised consciousness up to a degree to Geburah perhaps, or that there will be a lot of people to attain to Geburah upon the Tree this aeon. The next aeon may then be hypothesized to be of Chesed/Jupiter, where Hrumachis is a more balanced form of Horus. HRVMAChIS = 330 = ISON "equilibrium". It could be progressive like this, a kind of mass initiation cycle!
Maat as high order, law, and justice, could possibly be related to Chesed, but there is actually scarce evidence pointing to Maat per say as the successor to RHK. There is only mention of Hrumachis. There is Nema's Liber Pennae Praenumbra, but it is not clear what is being pre-shadowed. For instance, it could be that it implied the magickal child of this aeon was to birth soon, the word "feather" symbolizing a true soul.
@Edward Mason said
"While there is a reference to the Golden Dawn Equinox ritual in Liber AL, I 49, Crowley explicitly chose the start-date of the book's dictation, April 8 1904, as the start of the Aeon. He didn't designate March 21 (or whichever day the actual astronomical Equinox was on that year)."
I'm not sure this is correct, as the Thelemic dating system begins on the Spring Equinox of 1904. This seems the correct date to me, as Crowley begins receiving the communications shortly thereafter. It also seems likely that humanity's consciousness shift would align to the equinoxes, and Liber Legis does describe the change as an "Equinox of the Gods." As to whether the past two had start dates I am not sure, but they could perhaps be correlated to some lost equinox. When do you think the last aeon was enunciated time-wise roughly? I have put it in line with both Jesus and Buddha in the past, but it may be farther back. I think this may be a good estimate, equating it a bit with the natural alchemy of metallurgy:
- Industrial age, heavy population. 1904+.
- Bronze Age 3 or 4000 B.C. to 1904. May be roughly correlated to 1st Egyptian dynasty circa 3000B.C.
- Copper Age (Eneolithic). Beginning of copper and metal tools.
- Last years of Stone Age (Neolithic). Could have initiated around 40,000B.C. with forming of speech and communication.
-
Wizardioan, 93,
"I'm not sure this is correct, as the Thelemic dating system begins on the Spring Equinox of 1904. This seems the correct date to me, as Crowley begins receiving the communications shortly thereafter."
My blooper - you're right.
"I think it has a spiritual connotation too where for instance many people of earth in the past attained to the "H.G.A." conjunction in the last aeon, and this raised consciousness up to a degree to Geburah perhaps, or that there will be a lot of people to attain to Geburah upon the Tree this aeon. The next aeon may then be hypothesized to be of Chesed/Jupiter, where Hrumachis is a more balanced form of Horus. HRVMAChIS = 330 = ISON "equilibrium". It could be progressive like this, a kind of mass initiation cycle! "
That would be one way of looking at it. I've always understood the whole thing not so much in terms of specific sephiroth, but in terms of activation of the different levels of the psyche. The Aeon of Osiris brought the illumined Ruach to the fore - people became individuals more than parts of a generalized group consciousness. Obviously, this occurred in different ways, and to different degrees, in different times and places, but the effect was the same.
In this Aeon, the Neshamah becomes much more fully present within the Ruach. It is not just directing things, as it was for many people previously, but is emerging into consciousness. Again, different situations will affect and vary this process.
I don't recall how Hrumachis morphed into Maat (and lack the time to dig out the answer right now), but the 'double wanded' designation certainly implies Maat's power of balance.
93 93/93,
EM
-
Frater VV, 93,
"But for the Christian who has been deeply impressed with a perversion of the Osirian formula and for an age that has been deeply impressed with this perversion, the emergence of the Beast and his philosophy and the changing of the archetypes is experienced as enantiodromia.
"I assume one factor in any Aeon is something akin to senility. At the tail end, there is a decay of standards.
I think the Osirian era has been characterized by a contest. It's like the emerging Ruachs have been contestants - and they don't fight as brothers, but as grumpy neighbors. Strangling another's access to light is one way to win.
I am curious how the surge of energy in the Renaissance in Europe so soon led to the repressions of Calvinism and Puritanism. The Rosicrucian Manifestoes seem, in part, a response to that. They still deny the Church of Rome its central position (calling the Pope Antichrist, etc.), while trying to restore access to the symbolic world that had been smashed with the removal of stained glass, statues and paintings from the churches.
As for the shadow side of this Aeon, cruelty seems to be one aspect of it already well entrenched.
93 93/93,
EM
-
My Netzach, Tiphareth, Geburah comparison is not the traditional view, I just wanted to state that; I actually only considered it as a parallel model to Crowley's today. However I think there's something to it, and will try to work it out for a future post. Crowley's model was Isis, Osiris, Horus with the emphasis on Horus as the unity or summation of the two.
Crowley thought "the double-wanded one" referred to Thmaist (two forms of Thmais and Thmait), which gave birth to Themis, the greek goddess of Justice. Maat is the Egyptian goddess of Truth and Justice, so is parallel to her. Also the center two letters of HRVMAChIS are MA. Note though this all bases itself upon Crowley's interpretation of "the double-wanded one".
Here is a good recap of Crowley's aeon doctrine:
-
**Well lately I've been seeing Ra Hoor Khuit as the silent self within, in Jungian terms. The part of me that demands expression, but the part that I usually silence to fit into the culture. When you put a lid on something, you know what happens. This is why I think chapter 3 of Liber AL is all about FORCE. In the past, being a peaceful type, I have denied that, thinking subconsciously I couldn't handle it, if I released it. But lately I've been allowing myself to scream, shout, and get all excited when doing ritual. It makes for a powerful cathartic experience.
Once again, I think the Aeons and Equinoxes aren't actually literal, but rather symbollic. As Robert Anton Wilson once said, don't mistake the map for the territory.**