Dwarf-Self?
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Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
I've been lurking for some time and learning quite a bit, but have yet to participate. By way of wetting my feet I'd like to ask the following question:
Does anyone know the source(s) for the term "Dwarf-Self", used in A.C.'s writings to refer to the H.G.A.? He makes reference to the dwarf in folk tales, and to Bes, but I haven't spotted anything that would explain the connection.
Love is the law, love under will.
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I've never encountered a precedent. Obviously it's related to the other ideas you mentioned. He may have coined it himself.
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Thanks very much for the prompt reply. I'd done considerable research and have been rather frustrated by the silence in the literature.
So if A.C. coined the term himself, given the concepts with which he associated it, any speculation as to why he chose to use that particular term? What does that particular term (over against, e.g., Divine Child or Unconscious -- I'm thinking of his comments in The Voice of the Silence now) communicate about the nature of his subject?
A related question, whose answer might illuminate my original query: Other than his phallic nature, and his close relationship with Harpocrates, why choose Bes to represent the H.G.A.?
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@ridethetiger said
"So if A.C. coined the term himself, given the concepts with which he associated it, any speculation as to why he chose to use that particular term? What does that particular term (over against, e.g., Divine Child or Unconscious -- I'm thinking of his comments in The Voice of the Silence now) communicate about the nature of his subject?"
I've often had the sense that there were particular fairy tales or legends of dwarves that influenced Crowley but, mostly, he seems always to mean "the tiny little thing," the Yod - often explained in terms of a sperm cell and broadly meaning the smallest unit (dwarf) of consciousness (soul).
"A related question, whose answer might illuminate my original query: Other than his phallic nature, and his close relationship with Harpocrates, why choose Bes to represent the H.G.A.?"
Any god is, ultimately, an image of the HGA.
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@ridethetiger said
"Other than his phallic nature, and his close relationship with Harpocrates, why choose Bes to represent the H.G.A.?"
In this regard, I think it's interesting that some scholars think the image of Bes was originally not a dwarf but a lion rearing on its hind paws.
(See Wilkinson's excellent Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt and van der Toorn et al., Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible. Also, the latter states, "His name has been connected with verbs meaning 'to initiate', 'to emerge', and 'to protect'.")
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Jung linked the dwarf archetype with the child god archetype. You might find some research on Jung's words about the child archetype fruitful to understanding it's relevance.
Here are a couple quotes from him:
"The archetype of the child god appears to be widespread: examples from myth and legend, such the Christ child, the alchemical child motif, and the figure of the dwarf or elf are cited."
" Since the child is essentially a potential being, the child motif in the psychology of the individual signifies generally the anticipation of future, even though the motif appears to operate in a retrospective manner. In the same manner, the child in the individual is seen to pave the way for a future change of personality. The child motif is explained as a symbol that unites the opposites in one's personality, in that it anticipates the figure that comes from a synthesis of conscious and unconscious elements. "
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Excellent quotes. Thanks.
BTW, missed you guys last night. Hope you're feeling better. Sucky way to spend a vacation!
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Thanks. Missed you, the others, and the (I'm sure, awesome) event too. Now resigned to the reality that my attempts to trick my wife into believing that I am well enough to leave the house don't usually succeed...
Feeling somewhat better, should be good in another day or two. My fault for burning the candle on both ends on this "vacation".
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The Dwarf-Self comes from AC’s New Commentary to Liber Al 1:7:
*Hoor-paar-Kraat or Harpocrates, the "Babe in the Egg of Blue", is not merely the God of Silence in a conventional sense. He represents the Higher Self, the Holy Guardian Angel. The connexion is with the symbolism of the Dwarf in Mythology. He contains everything in Himself, but is unmanifested….
….But the "Small Person" of Hindu mysticism, the Dwarf insane yet crafty of many legends in many lands, is also this same "Holy Ghost", or Silent Self of a man, or his Holy Guardian Angel.
He is almost the "Unconscious" of Freud, unknown, unaccountable, the silent Spirit, blowing "whither it listeth, but thou canst not tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth". It commands with absolute authority when it appears at all, despite conscious reason and judgment.
….So also our own Silent Self, helpless and witless, hidden within us, will spring forth, if we have craft to loose him to the Light, spring lustily forward with his cry of Battle, the Word of our True Wills.
This is the Task of the Adept, to have the Knowledge and Conversation of His Holy Guardian Angel, to become aware of his nature and his purpose, fulfilling them.*
……………Just a few thoughts off the top of my head.
Besides the seed/Yod aspect already noted, the dwarf is a creature of the earth – lustful, crafty, hardworking, highly possessive of its hoard of treasures, etc – whose realm is underground. Correspondences may be found in Liber Samekh where union with the HGA occurs at the level of the sub/unconscious = the underground.
Bes is traditionally associated with the hearth, not the earth per se, but AC clearly saw a similarity between Bes and the Dwarf that went beyond the obvious “small person” aspect. Hence line 6 of *Liber Samekh *hails Bes as a representation of the HGA in the aspect of matter devouring consciousness:
He hails Him as BESZ, the Matter that destroys and devours Godhead, for the purpose of the Incarnation of any God.
Bes, in this sense, seems identical to Hades, rising up out of the underground, to abduct Persephone, as an allegory of conception and incarnation. The formula of *Liber Samekh *lies in acknowledging the invisible mighty hand of the HGA in one’s incarnation to dissolve the entrapment of the divine seed in matter. Or as AC puts it, “if we have *the craft *to loose him to the Light”. Much in the same way Mercury descended into the Underworld to find Persephone, the divine seed is buried somewhere in the underground, awaiting liberation.
So the Dwarf-Self/Bes are creatures of the underground who guard a buried secret. AC also describes the Dwarf as “insane yet crafty” – which is a good description for how the subconscious works.