why does the Star Ruby goes counterclockwise
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@Sidann Storm said
"93 I was curious why does the Star Ruby goes counterclockwise and Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram goes clockwise ? 93 93/93"
They were written on different magical theories.
Specifically, Crowley wrote the Star Ruby under the theory that widdershins is a banishing direction. (This isn't the invariable interpretation of widdershins movement, but it's one valid one.)
The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram was not written on that theory. Simple as that.
(There is another subtlety, but probably will go beyond this thread: The LBR is actually an invoking ritual. It banishings not by blowing things away, bbut by a heightened infusion of L.V.X. that fortifies the aura etc.)
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@Sidann Storm said
"93 I was curious why does the Star Ruby goes counterclockwise and Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram goes clockwise ? 93 93/93"
93,
The general consensus is that counterclockwise or widdershins is banishing, and Star Ruby is explicitly a banishing ritual. The Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram is a semi-concealed invocation because it is a union of the 5/Microcosm with 6/Macrocosm (as when you say 'For about me flames the pentagram and in the column shines the six-rayed star). Crowley once wrote about the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram that "Those who regard this ritual as a mere device to invoke or banish spirits, are unworthy to possess it. Properly understood, it is the Medicine of Metals and the Stone of the Wise."
93 93/93
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Also, Liber V vel Reguli (except for the ending) moves widdershins. This is also an invoking ritual.
A good point of explanation has to do with where the consciousness is at the time. Deosil and widdershins are the same movement -- one from the perspective of above, the other, below. This will offer further insight into the movement.
Think of the spiral force analogy that is being generated and the purpose behind it.
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@Frater 639 said
"Also, Liber V vel Reguli (except for the ending) and The Star Sapphire also move widdershins. These are also invoking rituals. "
The Star Sapphire moves deosil. But you're right about Reguli. - That's why I indicated that this was only one aspect of widdershins movement. It's not necessarily banishing. In the A.'.A.'. 2=9 initiation ritual and in Reguli, the motion means something different. (I'm only obscure because I don't want to write a whole essay, and because I'm trying to keep my answer on-topic to the original question rather than branching.)
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Yeah, but Reguli is about breaking all the rules...
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@Avshalom Binyamin said
"Yeah, but Reguli is about breaking all the rules..."
Exactly! That's the main thing that widdershins means in that ritual.
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I was replying to the post before (for some reason, sometimes the forum cross-posts without letting me know there's already been a reply).
I made the [probably personally helpful] mistake of learning and practicing that ritual a few years ago. The widdershins certainly didn't make it feel like any real "banishing" was happening--rather, it seemed to be invoking the messiest, swampiest energy possible. Just one more thing that made me question to surface idea of widdershins/banishing deosil/invoking as an oversimplification.
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@Jim Eshelman said
"The Star Sapphire moves deosil. But you're right about Reguli"
Yes. I edited that out of the original post.
@Jim Eshelman said
"Exactly! That's the main thing that widdershins means in that ritual."
Or one can look at the perspective shift...especially when dealing with the pentagrams. I find that idea particularly useful...
EDIT: Speaking of the Star Sapphire, and not to get too off topic...but why isn't it included in this list? I figure you might be the only one to know, Jim
9 LOCKS OF THE INFERIOR BEARD.
Nine paths below Adeptus.- Th The Formulation of the Body of Light. Liber O.
- Sh The Passage of the King’s Chamber. Liber HHH.
- R The Illumination of the Sphere. Liber HHH.
- Q The Divining of Destiny. Liber Viæ Memoriæ CMXIII.
- Tz The Formulation of the Flaming Star. Liber V.
- Q The Destruction of the House of God. Liber XVI.
- O The Sabbath of the Adepts. Liber CCCLXX.
- S Skrying in the Spirit Vision: The Ladder of Jacob. Liber O.
- N The Preparation of the Corpse for the Tomb. Liber XXV.
13 LOCKS OF THE SUPERIOR BEARD.
7 Paths Below Magister Templi.
- M The Sleep of Siloam. Liber CDLI.
- L The Passing of the Hall of the Balances. Liber XXX.
- K The Evocation of the Mighty Ones. Liber
- Y The Absorption of the Emanations. Liber DCCCXXXI.
- T The Protection of the Sphere. Liber O.
- Ch The Ritual of the Holy Graal. Liber CLVI.
- Z The Utterance of the Pythoness. Liber MCXXXIX.
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@Avshalom Binyamin said
"The widdershins certainly didn't make it feel like any real "banishing" was happening--rather, it seemed to be invoking the messiest, swampiest energy possible."
That was the calm before the storm for me...
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It wasn't written yet, for one thing.
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@Jim Eshelman said
"It wasn't written yet, for one thing."
Thanks!
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I. Guess I should mention that the Liber XXV at Nun isn't the Star Ruby. It's the meditation the "sheaths of the soul" taught in "Science & Buddhism."
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Now that you mention it -- I don't see the Mass of the Phoenix.
That list pre-dated Liber 333? And, if so, is that the same Liber V (vel Reguli)? It must not be, if you say that list was put together before 1913 (when XXV and XXXVI were written).
Now I'm even more confused...I thought Liber V vel Reguli was written after approx. 1921 and the Star Sapphire was written in approx. 1913...
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The V there is not Reguli. I think it must be something conceived and never written.
These aren't just rituals etc. These are specific practices intended to help you actually cross the paths.
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Thanks again for the clarification.
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@Jim Eshelman said
"I. Guess I should mention that the Liber XXV at Nun isn't the Star Ruby. It's the meditation the "sheaths of the soul" taught in "Science & Buddhism.""
I was trying to think of a polite and tactful way to ask this, but as you know, tact isn't exactly my superpower, so I'll just blurt it out:
How do you know?
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@gmugmble said
"
@Jim Eshelman said
"I. Guess I should mention that the Liber XXV at Nun isn't the Star Ruby. It's the meditation the "sheaths of the soul" taught in "Science & Buddhism.""I was trying to think of a polite and tactful way to ask this, but as you know, tact isn't exactly my superpower, so I'll just blurt it out:
How do you know?"
Liber Viarum Viæ was published in Equinox No. 7, March 1912. The Star Ruby was written in the course of writing The Book of Lies later in 1912.
The task for the Path of Nun in Liber Viarum Viæ, which is desinated as "Liber XXV," is summarized as "The Preparation of the Corpse for the tomb." That's a vague statement that is hard to relate to any of the "candidates" for identification but, in particular, it seems especially distant from a banishing pentagram ritual, and not excessively distant from a practice that "peels back the sheathes of the self."
Liber 185 describes the task for the Path of Nun as, "Further, he shall apply himself to study and practice the meditations given in Liber V." So, at least we know that it's a meditation. Liber 13 clarifies what kind of meditation by saying, "He is given a meditation-practice on the Senses, and the Sheaths of the Self, and the Practice called Mahasatipatthana. (See The Sword of Song, Science and Buddhism)."
The number 5 and its alternative/octave 25 were both used in describing this practice. In fact, both of those numbers were (years later) applied to new rituals.
The Path-practices listed in Liber Viarum Viæ exactly match those listed in core A.'.A.'. defining documents (Liber 185, Liber 13, One Star in Sight) in all cases except the following:
Qoph is here attributed to the Magical Memory, and the actual task assigned is divination.
A'ayin, "The Sabbath of the Adepts" is an expression of Liber A'ash, which was eventually assigned to Dominus Liminis. The actual tasks for A'ayin are evocation and the consecraton of talismans.
Kaph is excessively vague and probably refers to a paper that was never written. (The eventual assigned practice is the mastery of the gunas.)
(Above Chesed, the practices listed become more abstract and, in most cases, don't match what was later included in One Star in Sight. By all appearances, Crowley simply hadn't thought that far ahead at that point.)