Levi Tetragram error
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From Chaper 4 The tetragram of Part I: The Doctrine of Transcendental Magic:
Thus, air and earth represent the male principle; fire and water are referable to the female principle, since the Philosophical Cross of pantacles, as affirmed already, is a primitive and elementary hieroglyph of the lingam of the gymnoso-phists.
And there's a picture of this arrangement in the book. It is the same arrangement that Wu Xing system uses for their 4 seasons. The problem is that in Wu Xing the male principle is wood (earth) and fire and the female is metal (air) and water. I believe that Levi made an error with the arrangements. Because in Part 2 he writes of another arrangement which fits the Wu Xing yin/yang theory.
From Chaper 4 THE CONJURATION OF THE FOUR of Part II: The Doctrine of Transcendental Magic:
It must be borne in mind that the special kingdom of Gnomes is at the north, that of Salamanders at the south, that of Sylphs at the east, and that of Undines at the west.
Did Levi make a slip in Book 1 - mix up the seasons and the yin/yang arrangements?
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Okay, as noone is getting it... Look at Pliny the Elder, The Natural History:
www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D4
And a picture of that:www.sil.si.edu/exhibitions/voyages/1-5-Pliny.jpg
Or a picture of VITIRIOL: www.horusmedia.de/2004-siebenstern/siebenstern.jpg
If you still don't get it look at the Wu Xing. Levi made a mistake in attributing the elements. Any comments? Levi is in the A.:A.: reading list but noone cares to discuss him? -
One of the things I have always tried to keep in mind when I am reading is that authors are human and can (and do) make mistakes. If I read something that doesnt agree with me, well then I dont digest it.
Another thing that I have come to understand in the study of magic, is the perspective of the person composing the ritual. The rites of the Polynesians could be seen as upsidedown and backwards to some one on the other side of te hemisphere. I have come to understand that the attributions of corrspondences are based on perspective andnot necessarily truths.
I recall several heated discussions about this topic, and the idea of water being in the west (if you were in europe-the Atlantic is west) as compared to water in the east (which in parts of asia it is).
I also recall being taught that many masters/ adpets deliberately did not publish thier findings verbatium, and diberatley put blatant errors into thier works, so to keep the mysteries occult to the fads and whims of popular society, but to lay hints (which there is a specific term-which escapes me now) for the geninue seeker.
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Thanks Veronica for your remarks. My further research shows that in The Key of The Mysteries Levi fixes this error in the first glyph of the key. I see Earth (Wood in Wu Xing) and Fire forming Alpha/Yang and Water and Air (Metal in Wu Xing but used by Levi in his pentagram as Earth) forming Omega/Yin. I got the element attributions comparing the Wu Xing and the Levi Pentagrams. Looks like there are two traditions in the West - one likes the fifth element shown as Metal (Levi) and the other as Earth (Pliny). The Golden Dawn show it as Metal and use the sequence from the second book of Magic ch. 4 by Levi put in his pentagram, but the true attributions of the pentagram are shown in the Wu Xing and in The Key of The Mysteries first glyph put in Levi's pentagram.
A task for the brave - show me a glyph not from Golden Dawn or Wicca, New Age showing a pentagram with GD attributions. I already showed Pliny, Levi, Wu Xing whose final attributions of the pentagram do not match GD but match each other. Anyone?
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Well, I'm working under the assumption that either no one knows or that the people who know have reasons for not saying.
So..., under those assumptions..., should I hazard a guess...?
This seems to be the question of my life these days.
I think one possible workable solution to your question, speaking as someone else who does not know, may precisely have it's root in the Golden Dawn. To some extent, symbol sets are completely interchangeable depending on the type of meditation one is performing. For example, I've read that the godforms and directions one uses during rituals changes as one progresses through the grades. These are not truly blinds. They are diverse meditations given in a graduated fashion.
What you are looking at may very well be simply another meditation, given at a different grade, to a different audience, at a different point in history. Neither is necessarily incorrect.
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To add to what Frater LA said: I've heard hearsay about associations and directions being switched depending on hemisphere (JAE mused openly about it in another thread I don't have time to track down at the moment), but I am by far the most terrible geographer on the planet, so I can't add much more than that
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Could it also not be that the attributions become relatively arbitrary after a certain point in attainment? After all, "we" as humans give form to the formless, we give tendency to patterns, and we manipulate (and thereby, manipulated) the aethyrs.. Magic fundamentally takes place in the mind, therefore, all "blinds" are in the mind, so do not not waste time trying to "work out the kinks" and pick up the wand and start experimenting.
"If you have to ask, you'll never know." -Angelica from Rugrats.
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I think there's a universal system. That's why I study variuos texts and religions. So far I studied and seen I know that there is a universal system. I think Crowley thought so also by studying yoga, taosim, buddhism, christianity - what not. If you think that:
"the attributions become relatively arbitrary after a certain point in attainment"
You have attained high or you are thinking mistakenly. Magick works by analogies if the analogies are bogus you're knocking at the wrong door. You can make your own world of analogies but I, maybe mistakenly, like to walk on the shoulders of giants.
And yes, I'm trying to work my wand, but I need solid foundations in magick and knowing how to form a pentagram with it's analogies is foundational work. Only by meditation, concentration and will I managed to get to the most logical conclusions and writting works who help me understand. These I offered to this topic. -
@Modes said
"I believe that Levi made an error with the arrangements. Because in Part 2 he writes of another arrangement which fits the Wu Xing yin/yang theory."
If an engineer chooses the wrong materials the bridge will collapse.
If the Magician "made an error with the arrangements" what would the outcome be?
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There is no such thing as a universal system. However, the idea of "correspondences" between different symbol sets in different systems is correct. As different cultures and languages have different ways of qualifing certain happenings no two qualifications from different systems will "line up completely." If I look at the sky in North Carolina to check the weather and you look at the sky in say Australia will my particular adjectives apply to your experiences? No. Even though our languages may have similarities a vast gulf exists between the way in which we use that language. So to not answer your remarks any further, I can add that: There is a general structure to attainment that spans all systems, but the symbols and methods will vary from system to system.
By the way you will find that many kabbalistic correspondences vary from time period to time period, and also form author to author/ Many of which have "internalized" their understanding of kabbalah, in a similar fashion to Uncle Al. Kabbalah is not rigid in anyway in fact, one idea may be similar to several others.
When I said pick up the wand that was in no way meant to be derogatory. I was simply saying, that you are dealing in the territory of the mind and the only to find any level of certainty is by EXPERIMENT! I practice Hatha Yoga and the symbols do not always correspond to Hermetic Magick but certain methods of attainment do apply. You can only understand Kabbalistic problems by a full on confrontation with them, and that will never happen from the arm of your chair or browsing forums.
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Thanks, JPF, for the comment. TheSilent1, you are right about the wand. I guess the only true way to know the elements is to ask them myself i.e. do magick. I just have to get the balls for that.
In the end, Nature (or how'd you call it) is your only guide.