Trying to speak to old, holy men.
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I think any "real life" (material world, non-allegorical) interpretation of Revelations is wrong. - All of them. (I'm not the discriminating type <g>.)
I accept that Crowley, in his lifetime, was the avatar (in the strict Hindu sense) of the archetype called The Beast 666. Though, in the present aeon, that archetype is serving at the Chokmah level, it's classically a solar-Tipheric archetype - the essence of the Sun. It being "the essence of the Sun" meant something quite different in 1st Century AD than today. Two thousand years ago, the Ruach (the self-conscious egoic faculty in humanity) was still infantile, whereas today it's an adult having its own child(ren).
Revelations is quite explicit that 666 is "the number of humanity." (That's the correct reading of the original Greek.) Several symbols converge here - awakening to Anahatta (solar chakra) level, emergence of a fully mature self-conscious ego structure species-wide, and all the other human species cultural and biological and informational evolution in the last two millennia. The result (most broadly stated) is that "The Beast 666" is 20th/21st Century humanity seen through 1st Century eyes.
By this, I mean that the Beast as the story is told in Revelations. 666 is also a primary evolutionary force moving through us, but how that appears manifest is in the human species that results from it. It's our collective ego fully developed (without necessarily having any higher faculty linked to it). Read John's Apocalypse from that perspective, and I bet you find it easy to see.
Looking for literal people is an error. This book is describing a process that each individual passes through eventually. It's also a step-by-step instruction in yoga training, which then attempts to map the results from the stated practice.
@Iaomai said
"For instance, who were the "two witnesses" of Chapter 11, and where were they drug through the streets and publically displayed?"
Did you know that the Latin word for "witnesses" is testes. ("Olive trees" give one hysterically funny image!)
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" It's also a step-by-step instruction in yoga training, which then attempts to map the results from the stated practice."
I have run that possible interpretation by several moderate Christians. They all ask for a book.
I keep coming back to this. If it's not written out somewhere as you describe, then it needs to be.
Do I need to write it? I don't have the chops to understand it without more references.
I have Apocalypse Unsealed, but it reads like a book written by a man with a penchant for numbers and association - with A Beautiful Mind. Should I give it a second chance? I know they won't. It needs to be written in their language.
Are there any other significant resources that might go toward research?
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@Iaomai said
"Thanks for that. Let me chew on it for a bit."
I was mostly joking about the last line BTW (though it's factually true
).Rev. 10 shows an important climactic stage of the Knowledge & Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel, portrayed (as is most of the book) with abundant kundalini description. (That isn't surprising, since the prior chapters have redundantly cleaned and stimulated the chakras, and the immediately preceding chapters have shown them almost violently opened - John's method of attainment was clearly a kundalini-gnosis method. Chapter 10 begins just after with the opening of the Ajna chakra.) That chapter, in short, is allegorical (but almost literal in some respects) of some of the most important basics that pass between the new adept and the Angel: He is given his life instructions and accepts them.
So, Chapter 11 opens with that basis. It continues the Angel's instructions to him. Note that "1,260 days" is 3 1/2 years - one of numerous occurrences of 3.5 throughout the book (in this case, 3.5 turnings of the Sun), a direct reference to teachings concerning the Muladhara chakra's operations.
Given the context of all of this, I'm inclined to interpret the "two witnesses" as Ida and Pingala, witnesses to the primary voice of Sushumna (by which the HGA is being substantially represented). I say "inclined" because my intuition hasn't given final ratification to that interpretation yet - but it is an interpretation that has sat easily with me for a long time. Verses 5-6 show known consequences of the derangement of those particular currents. And so on. (See two more examples of 3.5, but now as days. Then see these currents "ascended up to heaven" immediately triggering an earthquake, used in this book for the rattling of reality from certain strong results, especially involving the higher chakras.)
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@Iaomai said
"
" It's also a step-by-step instruction in yoga training, which then attempts to map the results from the stated practice."I have run that possible interpretation by several moderate Christians. They all ask for a book."
Fair enough. And I've been promising that book for 10-15 years. I just haven't been promising when. (I'm now working on a three-year project that the public will never see - all leading up to the New Era of the Aeon of Horus that begins at the vernal equinox of 2014. I'm hoping to have the main parts of that done early enough that I can turn my attention to what would probably be a 2-year job of finishing the promised book. Then again, other things may need to be done first.... Sigh...)
"If it's not written out somewhere as you describe, then it needs to be. Ignorance is the enemy of truth."
It's not written out fully. I've given private talks on it a few times, and just recently walked a group of initiates through the chapters of The Apocalypse. It's not secret in the "obligated" sense, it's just secret because it hasn't been written out sufficiently. However, all of the components are present in the transmitted teachings of the Mystery Tradition of which Temple of Thelema is inheritor.
"I have Apocalypse Unsealed, but it reads like a book written by a man with a penchant for numbers and association - with A Beautiful Mind. Should I give it a second chance? I know they won't. It needs to be written in their language."
Pryse is tremendously important. He's done more on this than anyone else. I find certain weaknesses in his work, but these are the weaknesses one might find with a 1960-era computer. (Vacuum tubes were amazing inventions in their day!) Yes, it IS broadly about numbers... but it can also be told more simply.
"Are there any other significant resources that might go toward research?"
None I can suggest. Maybe I'll have time to put some starter notes here.
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Some starter notes (very basic) on The Apocalypse.
CH 1 - Introduces the story and the main character. Don't worry about what He's called, i.e., don't get hung up pro or con that it is specifically Jesus. Bottom line, it's Alpha et Omega. Also, the name given has well-known numerical codes that rightly declare the nature of the HGA, especially codes embodying the Golden Mean.
CH 2 & 3 - The 7 "churches in Asia" are the 7 chakras is Assiah, i.e., their densest manifestation. Each of these letters follows the same pattern: It declares the nature of the chakra, then it says there is some stuff wrong (out of balance, screwed up) about it, and says or implies that this stuff needs to get fixed! In other words, the process is being mindful of each chakra, knowing its nature, and finding the imbalances that need correcting. The sequence is from Muladhara up to Sahasrara, and the planetary correspondences are as published elsewhere (e.g., on the planetary Paths section of Col. 1305 of 776 1/2).
CH 4 shows a result of this first practice. The results resemble those classically described for samyama, or readily recognizable. For example the "sea of glass" is an appearance of the Great Sea of mind brought to perfect, clear stillness.
CH 5 begins the process of getting ready to more fully open the chakras. The right agency needs to be identified, and it is eventually identified as the Lamb. (And this was still during the late Aries Age - this is the Ram that is meant, with all of its symbolism.) Instead of the "churches," we now will work with the chakras at the level of the "angels of the churches," or at a Yetziratic level.
CH 6 begins the process whereby the Lamb - that is, the power of the planet Mars combined with the exaltation of the Sun - begins opening the seals one at a time. (The "book" - though "scroll" is the better word - is a naked represenation of the human body, made of skin and sealed with 7 seals "up the backside.") Each opening unleashes phenomena at the angelic level. (These are too complicated to go into in these short notes.) Look at 8:1 for the climax of this. - It continues through the chapters we were already talking about.
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"I have run that possible interpretation by several moderate Christians. They all ask for a book. "
I have been meaning to read this one. It might provide some food for thought in relatively accessible language.
(http://unusmundus-melie.blogspot.com/2011/11/book-yoga-of-jesus.html)I read this one, but you probably won't get the type of person you are talking about to read it. You might like to check it out though.
(http://unusmundus-melie.blogspot.com/2009/09/online-book-dance-of-ecstacy.html#links)This one I have read also, and I think it might be based on the works of Pyrse, but I'm not sure. Anyway, it might be an article length type of read that someone could take a look at without investing a lot of time and still get some ideas. The article is broken into sections and you will see a link that refers specifically to the section titled John's Apocalypse. (http://unusmundus-melie.blogspot.com/2009/09/article-big-picture.html#links)
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@Jim Eshelman said
"I'm now working on a three-year project that the public will never see - all leading up to the New Era of the Aeon of Horus that begins at the vernal equinox of 2014."
Hi Jim,
Would you perhaps elaborate on the above "new era"? Is this something publicly known to be coming?
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@kerlem93 said
"I have been meaning to read this one. It might provide some food for thought in relatively accessible language.
(http://unusmundus-melie.blogspot.com/2011/11/book-yoga-of-jesus.html)"After your recommendation and reading the reviews on Amazon I picked up both The Yoga of Jesus and his more in depth 2 volume set The Second Coming of Christ. I just finished reading the first book and am about to start on the 2 book set. The author is very familiar with the esoteric side of Christianity and does an incredible job of making a strong case that Jesus was teaching yoga. I've never seen such a clear bridge between Christianity and the East. Thanks for the wonderful recommendation.
