Origins of &"Khabs am Pekht&"
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I wasn't sure which forum to posit this question, but "Qabalah" seems closest because it's a "formula..."
It's probably true that the first place Crowley ever heard the word "Khabs" was in the Golden Dawn's Neophyte ritual, where the candidate is led to Light with the words
Khabs am Pekht!
Konx om Pax!
Light in Extension!My question is: where did the Golden Dawn get this from? The pseudo-Greek "konx om pax" was well-known from several ancient reports on the content of the (Eleusinian?) mysteries, but what about the first and third lines? A little web searching found a site that quotes David Godwin's book Light in Extension to say that "Khabs am Pekht" and the interpretation as "light in extension" was first given by Johannes Meursius in the 1600s. This was prior to the true decipherment of the hieroglyphs, so let's put aside whether it really is an accurate translation of the ancient Egyptian.
But did the Golden Dawn dig all the way back to Meursius? My number-one guess as to their direct source is the work of Eliphas Levi. In fact, my prompting to write this post came from Jim's mention of Levi as a source of the Qabalistic Cross and LBRP. But not having a good Levi library at my fingertips, I can't verify this... Other possibilities would be Blavatsky or Kingsford, or even other "fringe masonic" research from the same folks who gave us the cipher manuscripts (Kenneth Mackenzie?).
Any insights or pointers? This is pretty esoteric, even for esotericists, so I'll not be offended if the only response is the pouty face of Leelu saying "administrative acknowledgment"
Much thanks,
Steve
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@Steven Cranmer said
"My question is: where did the Golden Dawn get this from?"
It's in the cypher manuscripts. They just implemented what they were provided.
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@Jim Eshelman said
"
@Steven Cranmer said
"My question is: where did the Golden Dawn get this from?"It's in the cypher manuscripts. They just implemented what they were provided."
I guess my implied question was "where did the author(s) of the cipher manuscripts get it from?" But upon reflection, that's probably completely untraceable...
Thanks.
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Yeah, as far as I know it's untraceable. Pity, eh?
PS - Leelu says hi, and she won't hurt you if you ask nicely first.