13 May - (Air) Liber LXV, 2:7
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7. Moreover I beheld a vision of a river. There was a little boat thereon; and in it under purple sails was a golden woman, an image of Asi wrought in finest gold. Also the river was of blood, and the boat of shining steel. Then I loved her; and, loosing my girdle, cast myself into the stream.
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7. Moreover I beheld a vision of a river. There was a little boat thereon; and in it under purple sails was a golden woman, an image of Asi wrought in finest gold. Also the river was of blood, and the boat of shining steel.
A Vision of a river, is like saying in the dream I had a dream. This is the structure of the experience being described: things being nested within other things. Purple sails: Yesod—the sphere of forms, propelled by a wind, or air, the element of Yesod, the realm of forms. The primary nesting is one of form and content.
The bodies are nested, like the sheaths of the soul: an image of Isis, or Asi is in the boat because this is the realm of images; she is made of gold because she is filled with the life force of the sun, or more appropriately the life that is represented by gold and the sun—the sun behind the sun; she is in a boat of shining steel, a body, tempered and made strong and enduring—the body of light; the boat is on a river of blood—the sheath of the flesh, the story of blood, or generation, of bodies, of the physical incarnation.
The whole image is of a numinous life force shining at the heart of, and filling all the nested vehicles with its vitality and warmth, its truth.
Then I loved her; and, loosing my girdle, cast myself into the stream.
I have given myself over to the illusions knowing them to be illusions. I make love to the many and perceive the one behind all the partial forms: Circe is actually a mask of Nuit, and understanding this, I am able to fully enter into this mystery without being trapped by it.
I woke with a curious dream where I was with a beautiful, golden haired, young woman, we kissed and I understood that the joy in the kiss was not subject to age and would never fade...
Love and Will
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@Liber 65, 2:7 said
"7. Moreover I beheld a vision of a river. There was a little boat thereon; and in it under purple sails was a golden woman, an image of Asi wrought in finest gold. Also the river was of blood, and the boat of shining steel. Then I loved her; and, loosing my girdle, cast myself into the stream."
I did a meditation as suggested at the beginning of this chapter.
instead of Asi, there was a golden male statue, his hands in spiral-like movement, and as I looked closer, I recognized Shiva dancing.
the rest of the experience was very personal, intimate, but yet - nothing happened besides what the lines say - I threw myself into the river, and felt magnetic pull towards the boat.insights came about the nature of initiation, and that once one takes the first step on this Path, there's no 'turning back', the force that leads one towards the K&C of the H.G.A. is immensely strong, and it will be attained in one incarnation or another - no matter when, it will be so. ( time is of no relevance here )
.. at first, Adonai seems like 'only a form' (an image of gold), but Love moves the human ego to "cast itself into the stream", and loosing its girdle (loosening the 'walls' of the rational-ego), it becomes more and more refined, experiencing all things as consequences of this magnetic pull towards the Divine.
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As an adolescent I remember very clearly being polarized by my first exposure to the idea of the angel. It was in Richard Cavendish's book the Black Arts—a quick and dirty survey of popular ideas about the western magical tradition. A shallow book when all is said and done, but when I read about the HGA I had an instant, deep, and life altering experience; I wanted it it, fell in love instantly, and promptly cast myself into the river.
Love and Will
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@RobertAllen said
"As an adolescent I remember very clearly being polarized by my first exposure to the idea of the angel. It was in Richard Cavendish's book the Black Arts—a quick and dirty survey of popular ideas about the western magical tradition. A shallow book when all is said and done, but when I read about the HGA I had an instant, deep, and life altering experience; I wanted it it, fell in love instantly, and promptly cast myself into the river.
Love and Will"
A nice story. And given what we are going to be reading in the next few verses of Liber 65, maybe the title Black Arts was an omen
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I agree with RobertAllen on some points, but there is another way to look at it.
" 7. Moreover I beheld a vision of a river. "
@RobertAllen said
"
A Vision of a river, is like saying in the dream I had a dream. This is the structure of the experience being described: things being nested within other things. Purple sails: Yesod—the sphere of forms, propelled by a wind, or air, the element of Yesod, the realm of forms. The primary nesting is one of form and content.
The bodies are nested, like the sheaths of the soul: an image of Isis, or Asi is in the boat because this is the realm of images; she is made of gold because she is filled with the life force of the sun, or more appropriately the life that is represented by gold and the sun—the sun behind the sun; she is in a boat of shining steel, a body, tempered and made strong and enduring—the body of light; the boat is on a river of blood—the sheath of the flesh, the story of blood, or generation, of bodies, of the physical incarnation. "" There was a little boat thereon; and in it under purple sails was a golden woman, an image of Asi wrought in finest gold. "
The boat seems to represent the body in this sense.. When I first read the words “in it under purple sails”, I thought of Nuit. Purple stands for nobility and spirituality. There seems to be a relationship forming as the body floats on the river and is under spiritual sails. Under the sails or inside the boat (body) is the spirit or God Asi “that which is you’ or that which is the spiritual you which is “wrought in the finest gold”. This appears to be talking about the alchemical process of change of the spirit.
" Also the river was of blood, and the boat of shining steel. Then I loved her; and, loosing my girdle, cast myself into the stream. "
The boat of steel represents the seemingly un penetrate able forces that one must go through to become the body that is holding the spirit or god in you that has been cleansed. The river of blood represents the cleansing process.
Asi- “that which is you’: Found at www.buzzle.com/articles/here-ends-the-search-for-god.html
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Here is the rest of the thought
" Then I loved her; and, loosing my girdle, cast myself into the stream. "
Then I loved her appears to be acceptance of the female spiritual self that is on the boat. The self he knows that he must become a part of. In order to be with her he must swim through the bloody river.
The only thing is he did not cast himself into the river because he understood that he has to start small by casting himself into a stream which is much smaller than a river and working up to the river.