12 May - (Air) Liber LXV, 2:4-6
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4. Stooping down, dipping my wings, I came unto the darkly-splendid abodes. There in that formless abyss was I made a partaker of the Mysteries Averse.
5. I suffered the deadly embrace of the Snake and of the Goat; I paid the infernal homage to the shame of Khem.
6. Therein was this virtue, that the One became the all. -
A poetic description of exploring the phrase:
"“There is no part of me that is not of the Gods.”"
Perhaps even, to be more specific:
"“In my mouth be the essence of the joy of the earth” "
or
""If I droop down mine head, and shoot forth venom, then is rapture of the earth, and I and the earth are one.""
... as toss off, I wonder if there isn't a female equivalent poetic way of saying line 5: Perhaps, "I suffered the deadly embrace of the Fish and of the Pelican; I paid the infernal homage to the shame of Heket"...
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4. Stooping down, dipping my wings, I came unto the darkly-splendid abodes. There in that formless abyss was I made a partaker of the Mysteries Averse.
5. I suffered the deadly embrace of the Snake and of the Goat; I paid the infernal homage to the shame of Khem.
6. Therein was this virtue, that the One became the all.At least one, maybe more of the tantras assert that poisons—moral, physical, and spiritual—are in fact medicines or potential sacraments if seen from an initiated perspective. Also, the belief by some Evangelical sects that faith in god will deliver you from the wiles of Satan—they handle poisonous snakes and serpents in their services as proof—signs that god is with them. And to my mind The Book of the Law, especially chapter two (2:26), suggests a similar line of thought with all of its feasting and talk of sacramental substances.
Thou thou thou, where ever I look, thou! Whatever I touch, thou!
As I understand it Jnana practices, like those made use of by Qabalists, tend to merge with Bhakti as this perspective of the one in the many establishes itself in the mind. Because I am divided for love's sake...
Now it's time for me to make my second cup of coffee! If I do this aright I will be able to experience this cup as a subtle embrace of the beloved. And maybe, a day will arrive, an instant when diversity will disappear and there will only be this cosmic embrace—all desire and all forms rushing together revealing itself as it always had been and always will be, but I was too blind see.
Love and Will
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"**4. Stooping down, dipping my wings, I came unto the darkly-splendid abodes. There in that formless abyss was I made a partaker of the Mysteries Averse.
- I suffered the deadly embrace of the Snake and of the Goat; I paid the infernal homage to the shame of Khem.
- Therein was this virtue, that the One became the all.**"
ANALYSIS:
Something that may not be evident to everybody is that these five grades corresponding to to Malkuth through Netzach, and then the Portal (or Dom.Lim.) which integrates them into the Quintessence. This is particularly important for the Air chapter because "Air," in the context of the grades below Tiphereth, means Yesod and the workings of the Nephesh.There is no mystery, then, that this hawk, flying in the direction of the turning of the earth (widdershins: against the seeming movement of the Sun, into the east as if into the dawning light) has entered the Duat - psychologically the Nephesh or subconscious - described as "darkly-splendid abodes" where one becomes "a partaker of the Mysteries Averse" (the traditional term for mysteries abiding in Nephesh rather than Neshamah). Here, the mysteries of A'ayin and Nun (ON!) are symbols of what is encountered.
Notice that that thius was reached by flying east - into the golden dawn! - but that also was the (widdershins) gateway into the realm of night. One truly "enters the darkness that, peradventure, I may find the light." It's the natural path. (Even more so in moving from Malkuth in Chapter 1 to Yesod in Chapter 2 - for the passage is through the Path of Tav.)
REFLECTION:
The means of adoration would be to undertake this specific journey. I think I shall schedule that for tonight. -
@Jim Eshelman said
"the Duat - psychologically the Nephesh or subconscious - described as "darkly-splendid abodes" where one becomes "a partaker of the Mysteries Averse" (the traditional term for mysteries abiding in Nephesh rather than Neshamah). Here, the mysteries of A'ayin and Nun (ON!) are symbols of what is encountered."
Isn't 'Duat' in this context just a somewhat more subtle and sophisticated way of saying the illusion of the world—my reality as it is now, fragmented and dominated by my subconscious obsessions?
Love and Will
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@RobertAllen said
"Isn't 'Duat' in this context just a somewhat more subtle and sophisticated way of saying the illusion of the world—my reality as it is now, fragmented and dominated by my subconscious obsessions?"
I don't think so - not directly. It is specifically used in the Holy Books and rituals from the same era to mean "the realm beneath," "the realm of night," etc., which symbolically is the unconscious in general, and subconsciousness in particular.
It may amount to the same thing, though, in practice, since it certainly includes all the field of perception of the material world (which is part of the domain of Nephesh).
We might be wandering into the topic of whether the phenomenon of the material world (the world perceived through the physical senses) is inherently objective once projections and "subconscious obsessions" are suspended. Neurological studies do seem to support the finding that the material world becomes more real and more vivid to long-experienced meditators who have quieted reactive and fear-linked parts of the brain.
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@Jim Eshelman said
"Neurological studies do seem to support the finding that the material world becomes more real and more vivid to long-experienced meditators who have quieted reactive and fear-linked parts of the brain."
What I mean is that flow of psychic energy that makes the world real to us, and is pretty much the opposite of what you just described.
@Jim Eshelman said
"Here, the mysteries of A'ayin and Nun (ON!) are symbols of what is encountered."
I am inclined to see Ayin and **Nun **as the Freudian notions of Eros and Thanatos. It's precisely this energy that causes us to obsess over discreet, individual things in the world, as if they can make us happy.
The wanton inclinations of Eros functioning at an unconscious level determines all our irrational desires—even the most pathological, the death wish. As a process, I connect Ayin with the Green Lion of the Alchemists. In psychological terms this is what I understand as illusion, reality entering the picture only after Eros has been liberated from partial and irrational obsessions—form, illusion, matter, The Devil. This liberation of energy is how I understand Nun as Death functioning.
But I imagine a further mystery. By understanding the nature of desire it is possible to love a single individual, or enjoy a glass of scotch, or a second cup off coffee without locking down Eros to that single instance—that person or thing then becomes a symbol for the absolute, not its replacement with something inferior—and ultimately a source of disappointment.
This is what I take from today's meditation, though I also feel like I'm missing the larger point in my effort to translate the technical mystic/magick jargon into ideas that I can relate to. Maybe I should just stop trying to explain it and imagine myself as a Green Hawk exploring the twelve houses of the night...
Love and Will
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The "superconsciousness" (hawk) is flying high and then dips down to the "darkly-splendid abodes".
"The Godhead, in order to realize itself, must involuntarily submit to undergo the experience of imperfection. It must take the Sacrament which unites it with the dark glamour of “Evil,” the counterpart of that which exalts the “Sinner” to Godhead."
What Jim said about this being the Path of Tav makes sense to me, but in a Hanged Man, Light descending into Darkness sort of way... godhead descending into Malkuth.
I imagine the hawk swooping down to the Earth, encountering the Duality and Exile there, that Individual Consciousness carries with it as prize and prison, and then not only suffering it... but paying homage to it, and in doing so, reascending along the Path of Tav to Yesod as the One (Individual Consciousness) becomes the all (seeing the legion of thoughts/experiences that make up the personality)
That leads into the next bit which is back in Yesod: this part in particular has me thinking of Yesod (purple), connected to the Sun path and Star path (in old system):
"There was a little boat thereon; and in it under purple sails was a golden woman, an image of Asi wrought in finest gold."
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@Jim Eshelman said
"4. Stooping down, dipping my wings, I came unto the darkly-splendid abodes..."
Is it possible that *stooping *is a misprint for ***swooping ***?
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In the "change not so much as the sryle of a letter" spirit, i think we must presume it is correct - especially as these verses are paraphrasing and reversing the famous quote from the Chaldean Oracles, "Stoop not down into that darkly splendid world," etc.
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Although I do not have such knowledge to speak, I have a thought that my lie in the same line yet be different when you first look at it.
The way I understand it the hawk had two forms. It not only represented the god but it represented the spirit or the spirit of the god. I am not sure where I am headed with this but I am sure I will get an idea across.
" 4. Stooping down, dipping my wings, I came unto the darkly-splendid abodes. "
I consider this like someone astral travelling and when considered this way it takes on a new form. A hawk always has an abode or a place to stay, but here he decides to go further down. To me stooping and dipping the wings are physical ideas that relate to the spiritual or astral actions one must take to reach the lower abodes or areas other people never think to look for enlightenment.
" There in that formless abyss was I made a partaker of the Mysteries Averse. "
This appears to be a description of the abode that no one goes to. The darkly-splendid abode is the formless abyss. Averse means to go against or working against. So Mysteries Averse is mysteries that go against something
" 5. I suffered the deadly embrace of the Snake and of the Goat; "
I know that I am thinking too logical but sometimes there is a reason.. let’s look at the avers of this. The snake is usually considered Evil, but when you think that the snake could mean wisdom it becomes good. A goat on the other hand is usually considered good or worthy for sacrifice and the opposite is bad. When you look Khem up you can find several meanings but I also found out that the god Khem is the god of fertility and is also identified as Pan by the Greeks. There is a relationship to trying to understand the opposites of what is good and bad and embracing the idea that neither of them are deadly or not deadly.
" I paid the infernal homage to the shame of Khem "
Here he uses an averse phrase as homage means respectful but he appears to use a past tense of paid so he is saying that he embraced both good and bad aversely to understand and it was to the shame of Khem who was also called Min or “Khnum, he was the creator of all things. The maker of gods and men”
" 6. Therein was this virtue, that the One became the all. "
He learns his lesson.
Information for this was found at
www.pantheon.org/articles/k/khem.html
www.crystalinks.com/min.html -
While trying to fall asleep I usually have weird images cross my mind as I start to drift to sleep. The only problem is I paid attention to an image of a wheel that appeared to be circling to the left. Then I saw one circling to the right… Aha… Exact opposites
Yet when I put them together they rolled together and appeared to roll up and then down. Switch them and they appear to roll down then up. One way they move the air towards the heavens and the other way they move the air towards the ground. It does not matter which way the air is moved the fact that it is move is still the same.
Wheels that roll in completely opposite directions appear to work as one, as night and day appears to be completely opposites. Yet when you take night and day and turn them around they still work together. Whether our illusion of light and darkness moves east to west or west to east, they are still one and both the same.