Every man and every woman is a star.
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Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
"Quote Arsihsis: I may be missing the import of the exercise, but I suppose you could say that a star whose orbit is most in accord with Geburah might be pentagonal? "
I am not thinking of it in terms of an exercise. BTW, that's a good example.
In that case, every man and woman would be a star by virtue of being human. The human form with limbs outstretched makes a pentagram, hence a star. I am wondering... did A.C. ever clarify what Aiwass meant in this verse? -
@Ankh said
"did A.C. ever clarify what Aiwass meant in this verse?"
Here is what A.C. had to say about CCXX, I:3 in the New Comment:
@A.C. said
"This thesis is fully treated in "The Book of Wisdom or Folly". Its main statement is that each human being is an Element of the Cosmos, self-determined and supreme, co-equal with all other Gods.
From this the Law "Do what thou wilt" follows logically. One star influences another by attraction, of course; but these are incidents of self-predestined orbits. There is, however, a mystery of the planets, revolving about a star of whom they are parts; but I shall not discuss it fully in this place.Man is the Middle Kingdom. The Great Kingdom is Heaven, with each star as an unit; the Little Kingdom is the Molecule, with each Electron as an unit. (The Ratio of these three is regularly geometrical, each being 10 to the 22 times greater in size than its neighbour.)
See "The Book of the Great Auk" for the demonstration that each 'star' is the Centre of the Universe to itself, and that a 'star' simple, original, absolute, can add to its omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence without ceasing to be itself; that its one way to do this is to gain experience, and that therefore it enters into combinations in which its true Nature is for awhile disguised, even from itself. Analogously, an atom of carbon may pass through myriad Proteus-phases, appearing in Chalk, Chloroform, Sugar, Sap, Brain and Blood, not recognizable as "itself" the black amorphous solid, but recoverable as such, unchanged by its adventures.
This theory is the only one which explains "why" the Absolute limited itself, and why It does not recognize Itself during its cycle of incarnations. It disposes of "Evil" and the Origin of Evil; without denying Reality to "Evil", or insulting our daily observation and our common sense.
I here quote (with one or two elucidatory insertions) the original note originally made by Me on this subject.
May 14, 1919, 6.30 p.m.
All elements must at one time have been separate -- that would be the case with great heat. Now when atoms get to the sun, when we get to the sun, we get that immense, extreme heat, and all the elements are themselves again. Imagine that each atom of each element possesses the memory of all his adventures in combination. By the way, that atom, fortified with that memory, would not be the same atom; yet it is, because it has gained nothing from anywhere except this memory. Therefore, by the lapse of time and by virtue of memory, a thing (although originally an Infinite Perfection) could become something more than itself; and thus a real development is possible. One can then see a reason for any element deciding to go through this series of incarnations (god, that was a magnificent conception!) because so, and only so, can he go; and he suffers the lapse of memory of His own Reality of Perfection which he has during these incarnations, because he knows he will come through unchanged.
Therefore you have an infinite number of gods, individual and equal though diverse, each one supreme and utterly indestructible. This is also the only explanation of how a being could create a world in which war, evil, "etc". exist. Evil is only an appearance because, like "good", it cannot affect the substance itself, but only multiply its combinations. This is something the same as mystic monism, but the objection to that theory is that God has to create things which are all parts of himself, so that their interplay is false. If we presuppose many elements, their interplay is natural. It is no objection to this theory to ask who made the elements -- the elements are at least there; and God, when you look for him, is not there. Theism is "obscurum per obscurius". A male star is built up from the centre outwards, a female star from the circumference inwards. This is what is meant when we say that woman has no soul. It explains fully the difference between the sexes.
{WEH NOTE: Although Crowley evidently felt that this characterization was true simply, it should be noted that this comment is not CLASS A. The idea of center outwards and circumference inwards may actually have described the impression received by a male of the Victorian age in regard to men and women. Certainly every male mystic has the state here described as "circumference inward", "...no soul" and "female" at the time of reception --- vide Liber LXV. Equally, every woman who acts positively from awareness of her identity would qualify for "center outwards", "soul" and "male" in this sense. What Crowley identified as sex-linked may better be considered as modality linked, with the sexual linkage as much an accident of culture as anything else.}"
729
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@Ankh said
"Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
In Chapter. I Verse. 3 of The Book of the Law, It says: Every man and every woman is a star.
My question is this... what kind of Star
"You're trying to read too much into it. The purpose of the passage is to ingrain in each aspirant a deep appreciation for themselves.
In common parlance we say "How are you doing?" and "How's your health?"
In a Buddhist monastery they say "Please cherish yourself". That's what this passage is getting at.
People have a great tendency to talk badly to themselves. They commit all sorts of atrocities against themselves. Self-pity, self-loathing, allowing others to treat them bad, are all examples of this.
When you realize you are a star then you talk good to yourself. You talk yourself up instead of down. You do not allow others to talk you down.
Please cherish yourself Ankh, you are a star.
Only you know what kind of star you are.
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Yes, if I'd gotten here earlier I'd have said, simply: It's a metaphor. It has a LOT of different facets of meaning.
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Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
"Quote Shunyata:
People have a great tendency to talk badly to themselves. They commit all sorts of atrocities against themselves. Self-pity, self-loathing, allowing others to treat them bad, are all examples of this.When you realize you are a star then you talk good to yourself. You talk yourself up instead of down. You do not allow others to talk you down.
Please cherish yourself Ankh, you are a star.
Only you know what kind of star you are."
Thank you for taking the time to respond and the kind words Shunyata. That is a liberating perspective.
"Quote JAE:
It's a metaphor. It has a LOT of different facets of meaning."
Interesting.
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The concept of star has always been linked with desire and destiny. When a king wanted to carry out an important undertaking his wise men would con+sider the matter ("consult the stars"). It was common practise to cast a horoscope to ascertain the optimal time for laying the foundation stone of an important piece of architecture or bridge, starting a war, or holding a wedding between two royal families etc, to maximize success.
This ancient logic indicates an individual's desire must be aligned with the stars to maximize chances of success. But this thinking also raises the spectre of failure. That line from Liber Al is similar to jnana and turns the logic around. You are already a star and need only realize that truth. Take that a step further and realize you already know your True Will and have already been fulfilling it in a myriad of ways till now. It may take several incarnations or only a few more years, but your destiny is guaranteed.
Take a look at Atu XX, the Aeon, which in the traditional Tarot is called the Last Judgement.
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@Ave de Prata said
"Liber אל vel Legis
Commentaries by Ave de Prata
Every man and every woman is a star.
( אל - I, 3 )This verse should be taken literally. Theosophy and Alice Bailey ( taken from the Hindus ) explains that the Monad, the Divine Spark - Hadit, for the Thelemites is created ( by a pair of Divine Beings who forms a Sun or Star - this particular info is from the Bridge to Freedom ) and then begins its evolutionary journey through the Mineral, Vegetal, Animal Kingdom and then by the union of the Animal Monad with the Holy Guardian Angel at the final stage of its evolution, finally the Monad arrives to the Human Kingdom - a primitive man at first.
After the Human evolution be completed and all the Human Initiations received, then starts the Cosmic Evolution, the Monad will have a planet as physical body and later a Sun or Star.
Therefore this is the more absolute truth, every man and every woman is a star. Perhaps we could say a baby star yet, when compared with a full grown up star like the Sun for example, but nonetheless a star."
You Know, I think I might be partial to this theory, as it would resolve the conflict for me of overpopulation, social osmosis, synergy and symbiosis, in regards to "True Will"; such that an individuals "True Will" is the eventual natural motion/rythm of the monad as a grown up "Star" which can only be reflected primitively at the stage of human incarnation.
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@Ave de Prata said
"Tibetan says that the Initiate only begins to understand Will after the 5º Initiation ( Magus )
The Book of the Law is instruction for the grade of Magus, albeit it recapitulates all the grades, as usual in a new instruction.
The instruction for the grade of Magister Templi was given by Jesus.
It is the death of the Human Ego and the ressurection in the Glorious Body, as he demonstrated.Love is the lesson in 3D. Unless one keep Love frequency one can not undergone this Initiation and go to the New Earth.
However, anyone can begin to understand Will, even an animal. Animal Will is to live, this is the reflection of the Will of the Monad, the Will of Live. Also the Will of Love, expressed in animal sexual instinct, which ultimatelly supports the Will of Live, by the perpetuation of the species which will allow a future incarnation for the animal. Anything which supports its life is understood as its Will, and an animal knows well that.
Will to drink, Will to eat, Will to sleep, Will to make sex and procriate, Will to play and have fun ! All this is part of Will of Live of the animal monad.
The same applies to Humans, which then expand and refine the Will of Live, Will to develop one´s mind, Arts, progress spiritually, etc.
About present Earth´s overpopulation:
It seems that the past population never was more than 800 million or one billion. In about once century it jumped to almost 7 billion now.
Why ?
Earth total population is about ten billion souls. The interval between incarnation Theosophy explains is about 700 to 1,200 years. Let´s consider an average of 1,000 years to facilitate.
Then a group of one billion come down from Astral Plane for incarnation, lives about 100 years, die and return to the Astral Plane where will live for 1,000 years and then return again for a new physical incarnation.
As we can see, we spend more time in the Astral and Lower Mental Plane than in the Physical Plane. Thus the importance of Spiritual studies, we are always planning our future, THIS is our future much more than just the remaining years of a given incarnation. This explains also the great importance Ancient Egyptians gave to the after life ( and another civilizations also )
Very well, then why this apparent unbalance ? Ausence of planning by part of the Gods ? Nothing of this sort. Quite the contrary.
We are living the last few years of Earth in Third Dimension. This Dimension, and also the Fourth Dimension, will be destroyed. The Universe is being reformulated, rising one degree on the Cosmic advancement stair. Our quadrant of the Universe, all the quadrant East of Orvonton, our local Superuniverse is Ascending to a new level, and will not have 3D planets anymore, like the present Earth, just 4D (Astral) and 5D planets like the New Earth and up.
Those who will not Ascend at this time - the Magister Templi Initiation - will be delivered to another Universe by the ships of the Galactic Federation, where there will be 3D planets and they will continue their evolutionary journey there.
Therefore, this is the last chance that is being given to the souls to complete the 3D curriculum in this planet. All souls which was in the Astral Plane are being sending down to incarnation. This is part of the cleansing of the Astral Plane, to vacate it for the Dimensional Shift. All people dying now, since some years ago, are not going to Astral colonies anymore, but to the ships of Galactic Federation and being taken to another planets, if it is not their destiny and Will to Ascend at this time and go to the New Earth."
You always give me a little chuckle inside.
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@Ave de Prata said
"Liber אל vel Legis
Commentaries by Ave de Prata
Every man and every woman is a star.
( אל - I, 3 )This verse should be taken literally. Theosophy and Alice Bailey ( taken from the Hindus ) explains that the Monad, the Divine Spark - Hadit, for the Thelemites is created ( by a pair of Divine Beings who forms a Sun or Star - this particular info is from the Bridge to Freedom ) and then begins its evolutionary journey through the Mineral, Vegetal, Animal Kingdom and then by the union of the Animal Monad with the Holy Guardian Angel at the final stage of its evolution, finally the Monad arrives to the Human Kingdom - a primitive man at first. "
I dont think you know what 'literally' means. All of your 'literal' interpretations are metaphorical and figurative in the extreme. Literally, it would be saying we are gaseous balls of light. We aren't. Your literal interpretation 'stinks of pestilence,' although I tend to be partial to the smell
In my opinion I would lay off the Blavatsky/Bailey/Steiner in attempting to understand Thelema in the least... its all just a bunch of capitalized words that dont refer to anything real, a bunch of pseudo scientific theories, and a bunch of superstitions about monads, rays, cosmic evolution, etc.
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IAO131 -
Late on this, but I'd just point out that the idea of a star is of something that generates and radiates energy, a (relatively) infinite source of energy.
The idea is (roughly): you are the/a *source *of light, not a receptacle of light that another, external source "enlightens".
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Out of curiosity - does anyone think that there is anything more valid in this statement:
Every man and woman is a star
Or this statement:
Every man and woman is a cabbage
Both statements seems like the discordian Law of 5. However, I do see that in the case of the 1st metaphor, AC was using it within the context of a much larger symbolism.
Are you all seeing a Catma or a Dogma?
And as or Ave de Prata - you seem like a pleasant enough person but when you write I feel like I'm reading Kenneth Grant... just a comment.
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@Scarecrow said
"Out of curiosity - does anyone think that there is anything more valid in this statement:
Every man and woman is a star
Or this statement:
Every man and woman is a cabbage
Both statements seems like the discordian Law of 5. However, I do see that in the case of the 1st metaphor, AC was using it within the context of a much larger symbolism.
Are you all seeing a Catma or a Dogma?
And as or Ave de Prata - you seem like a pleasant enough person but when you write I feel like I'm reading Kenneth Grant... just a comment."
OK obviously youve been reading hte Principia or other Discordia lately but still, man and woman is a cabbage in a way but htere is a HUGE amount of symbolism with Stars.
There is the Neo Platonic symbolism of Sol as Monad. There is the symbolism of the 'perfect celestial order of the heavens' and the corresponding 'moral order' in men that Kant was famous for writing about (think that had some influence?). Theres all the esoteric connotations of the Sun/Stars. There is all the normal symbolism of a star - i.e. light giving, center of its own self-radiant energy, pursuing a unique course while intertwined with similar entities, etc.
IAO131
